


(MD) The Wolf And The Dragon

by frowerssx



Category: Magical Diary (Visual Novels)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Drama, Drama & Romance, Fanasty, M/M, Magic, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 22:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20460644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frowerssx/pseuds/frowerssx
Summary: Inside the walls of Iris Academy, there are a lot of stories to tell. In this story, we follow a Wildseed boy called Luke. Life has never been easy for this boy but it's only going to get harder. Not only does he struggle with controlling his magic and the stubbornness of one Hieronymous Grabiner.But strange dreams, visions, and Magic from a time he cannot remember soon invade his life.Because, after all, not all seventeen-year-olds are who they think they are...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I rewrote this story awhile back and to be honest I haven't had the energy to post what I have written until now.  
I know The Magical Dairy Fandom is as quiet as a graveyard and with the announcement of Planet Zoo, I wanted to post this story before I truly forgot all about it. 
> 
> I don't know if I will continue this story but if it gets a lot of attention I will :)

The list of my Oc's and their pictures so you guys can have a better understanding what they look like

**(All artist's have given me permission to post their amazing art and I will provide links to their DA with the pictures!!)**

**Luke (By: https://www.deviantart.com/kiirino):**

**Charlie (By **https://www.deviantart.com/theawesomeaki-kun**): **

** **

**India (By **https://www.deviantart.com/wiskiez**):**

** **

**Avery (By **https://www.deviantart.com/virgichuu**)**

** **

**Keesha (By **https://www.deviantart.com/c-chesle**)**

** **

**Oliver (By **https://www.deviantart.com/sallidii**)**

**Conner (No Artist yet)**


	2. Chapter one: Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All great stories have an introduction~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE ONLY THINGS THAT BELONG TO ME ARE MY OC'S AND THIS STORY!!  
MAGICAL DIARY BELONGS TO HANAKO GAMES!  
STORY ONLY CHECKED BY ME AND GRAMMERLY! 
> 
> WARINING:  
Student/Teacher love!  
There will be explicit mentions of yaio sex in this story! Those sections will have their own chapters called Steamy steam! Readers who do not like gay sex can skip those chapters ^_^

**(Art by: https://www.deviantart.com/theawesomeaki-kun)**

In the mountains of the small American village called Vermont, there is a dense forest. None of the villagers explore these woods but they still know that they are beautiful. This is because no matter the season or weather, the grass and the leaves on the tall thick trees, are always a brilliant lush green. Yellow, white and pink flowers surround the trees and rocks. This forest was known as the "Enchanted Grove" as it truly looked like a paradise with the graceful Elk roaming the lands. Along with rare Red Squirrels, White-tailed Rabbits and many species of bird and Owl. The forest had predators of course, but the wolves, Red Foxes and the cougars don't let themselves be known by humankind, preferring to stay within the forest where no sane person would explore. The myths of ghosts, Demons, and werewolves keeping them away.

However, some must go down the feared dirt path of the dense forest at 20 miles an hour.  
Why do you ask?  
It is because on top of the hill called the "Devil's Tooth" there was a school.  
But not any normal school that you would know.  
Oh, no...  
It was a magic school.

It was for those gifted souls who are blessed with the power of magic. Human Wizards and Witches with many other magical species. For example, Elves, Fairy's, dwarfs, Demons and even human-like animals.

This school was named Iris Academy.  
The school has been on the hilltop of Devil's Tooth or what they simply call "Vermont's Mountain" for over two hundred years. It has opened its doors to any magical soul without judgment long before non-magical humans saw each other as one. No matter what skin colour, birth status, species or wealth one soul had if they had magic, they were welcomed at Iris Academy.

The school was surrounded by the beautiful lush green trees that the villagers saw down below at the beginning of the dense forest. It was truly hidden behind the tall trees. However, if a non-magical got curious and somehow managed to climb the steep hill the dirt road followed on foot or climbed the sharp rocks of the hill cliff face, all they would find was an old abandoned castle. The real school was safely hidden behind a force-field that showed this lie. Not like it mattered, the non-magical would be teleported back down to the start of Devil's Tooth with no memory of what just happened. They would simply go home because they suddenly felt awfully tired and hungry.

However, even though those without magic aren't allowed into the school, the ones who do are. And as you can expect those who enter Iris Academy's gates have stories to tell. Each of their stories is different. Some have adventure, mystery, romance, betrayal and even death, while some stories have all of the former.

However, this story is one of romance but with some twists, this story will become an adventure.

Because not all seventeen-year-olds are who they think they are...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally wrote a Introduction for this story!


	3. Chapter two: Journey through past years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life can be a challange and every character in a story has a past  
Catch up on Luke's history and see what life has thrown his way

Different people have their own stories to tell. That could be boring, I mean, some people live life in the same boring routine with nothing interesting happening. Sadly, I am not one of those people. However, to say that my life started out as interesting would be a lie. Until I was eight I lived a perfectly normal life. I grew up on a lovely farm with my father, mum, my twin sisters Kara and Emily, and my youngest sister at the time Rebecca. Everything was perfect, I had no worries or fears. I used to play out in the open fields with my three sisters, explore the woods with my father which involved him falling down a well. I learned how to cook, sing and draw with my mum and helped with looking after the animals. 

I thought nothing would go wrong, that nothing could destroy the perfect life we were all living.   
Oh, how stupid I was to think that. 

When I was eight and a half, my father started to get sick. Not like physically sick. No, his illness affected his mind. At first, we all thought nothing of it. It was just dad being silly and forgetting stuff. You know, where he put his keys, what day it was and sentences he was going to say. But, then it got serious. He would forget where he was, who he was and worse of all who we were. We had to move to Cornwall because dad almost got kicked by a horse.   
His memory only got worse and no matter how many times I told my mum he scared me, she wouldn't let him go. She didn't want to send him off to a mental hospital. She said she couldn’t betray or send him away like that.  
"I don't want to abandon him" she would say but I knew she was scared herself. She wouldn't let me or my sisters be alone with dad.

However, during the two years of looking after a father who had Alzheimer's he never hurt any of us...  
Or so I thought   
I found out that, that was a lie when I was ten years old. I was woken up in the middle of the night by dad's shouting and mum’s crying.   
I didn't wait to make sure if my sisters were okay. They weren't. They were hiding in their shared wardrobe terrified.   
I was scared myself, I wanted to hide with them but then I heard mum cry in pain. I didn't listen to my brain. Maybe I should have. Instead, I followed my heart. I ran downstairs to the shouting just to see dad pinning mum to the wall. My heart was in my mouth. Mum had a bleeding nose and a horrid bruise on her cheek.   
I didn't stop to think.   
I ran to dad and pushed him off mum and kneed him in the groin. 

Everything happened so quickly after that.   
Mum grabbed my arm to drag me to the stairs but a strong tug to my other arm pulled me out of her grip.   
That's when it happened.   
With a meat knife he got from the kitchen draw, dad sliced my left eye.   
I screamed in pain and mum covered me with her body when I fell down to the ground. My blood stained the carpet beneath me while mum protected me from dad's harsh kicks. It was five minutes later that the police came and took dad away. We later found out that it was Kara who called them by using the upstairs phone when I ran downstairs. 

I was sent to a hospital where I was cleaned up. The doctor said that I was lucky. If dads attack was an inch closer I could have lost my eyeball. However, I was now blind and scarred for life. The scar ran over my right eye, it started from just above my eyebrow and stopped at the middle of my cheek. 

After that, we moved again. However, the house was only two bedrooms and was run down. There was no kitchen and the rooms were empty. Mum didn't have enough money to buy a better house. In fact, she was so low on money that social services got involved. They said if mum didn't get a job and made our living arrangements better, then me and my sisters would be taken away. 

That caused a huge problem.   
My mum left school when she was sixteen because she was pregnant with me. Dad was the one who got high grades and could run the farm to earn money. Mum was happy being a stay at home mum.   
It took her two weeks to find a job. She said it wasn't the best job but it gave a lot of money. She didn't want to be a stripper and dancer but the money was great. She earned lots of extra money too, thanks to her rare beauty. What with her long bright lime green hair and stunning ocean blue eyes. 

Within a year, the house was a home. It was difficult for us all to figure out how to cope without dad. Even with his attack, we still missed him dearly. It was like he died but it was so much worse. We knew that he was alive but we also knew that the man we loved was no longer there. He wouldn't remember us. 

It was when I was twelve that mum met Eric. He was one of her regulars. Mum told me all about him. How he didn't want a dance or for her to remove any clothing. All he wanted was to get to know her because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.   
I didn't know that they were dating until four months after. Mum sat me down and told me. At first, I was shocked and confused. She always told me that dad was her soul mate. But I wasn't angry or felt betrayed. I knew that she still loved my dad but he was no longer here and she couldn't keep holding on to him. It was time for us all to accept that life moves on and that the heart heals and finds new love. 

She was overjoyed that I just shrugged and said if she loved him then I would try and get to know him too. After Dad's attack, I was overly jumpy around other men. Even when I went to see mum at her work after school, I would avoid the male customers and dancers like the plague.   
Once mum told me about Eric, everything ran smoothly. It wasn't perfect like life on the farm but it was something. We all worked together as a team. I would pick my sisters up from school and make them something to eat if mum worked late or went on a date with Eric after an hour of convincing from me. Kara would do the shopping so mum could rest, Emily did the washing of clothes and pots because mum couldn't as she was allergic to washing up liquid and there was no room in the tiny kitchen for a dishwasher. Rebecca cleaned the house and made the beds. It was a routine we got used too.

However, then I turned thirteen and my life was turned upside down again.   
It was on my birthday when I was alone leaning over the wooden bar of the bridge that was slightly above the Wolf enclosure. I've always loved wolves so I wanted a good photo. They were the only reason I wanted to come here after all. Yes, I knew how stupid I was for leaning over the bar and knew I could easily fall in and get eaten alive. 

Thankfully, I didn't fall in but my phone did when I thought I slipped it in my trouser pocket. Instead, my phone missed my pocket and fell on to the ground inside with the wolves. My first reaction was to curse myself and swear like a sailor. That phone was only a year old and mum couldn't buy me a new one. I was damn lucky that I got one for Christmas at all.   
With a sigh, I leaned over the bars again to hold out my hand.  
"Come on" I stupidly said while wishing that my phone would magically fly up to my hand. I knew that I wasn't in the Harry Potter universe and magic didn't exist but I was desperate!   
"Come on!" I snapped stubbornly and stupidity. Oh sure, I was awfully stubborn just like dad but this was beyond a joke. Usually, I'm stubborn when I know I'm right or when I want to make people (mostly my teachers and sisters) listen to me. But never like this.

I stood there like an idiot, bent over a bar with my hand reached out, for two whole minutes. But, when I sighed in frustration and slowly lowered my hand something unbelievable happened.   
My phone actually flew in my hand.  
I stumbled backwards in shock before starring at my phone before I quickly looked around. No one was there. No one else just saw what happened. I looked forward to see a wolf sat on the small hill in front of the bridge, I was stood on.   
"Did you see that?!" I screamed at the wolf in shock as if it understood me "I just...That's not possible!"   
Breathless, I slowly made my way to my way back to my family wondering if I just imagined the whole thing. 

I quickly decided that yes, I imagined what happened at the zoo. Everyone knows magic isn't real. Even I knew that and I loved the idea of magic. That was before an old woman suddenly teleported in my room. She had gray hair, soft amber eyes and had stunning white wings. She told me that I had magic running in my blood. That I was a wizard.   
That I had a Choice.   
A choice to be apart of the magical world or to remain how I was, stuck in the never-ending cycle that was my families boring routine.   
Perhaps it was selfish of me to want more, to start anew somewhere else and to want to explore a world I didn't know anything about. But I said yes. I said that I wanted to be a wizard and learn magic, it has always been my dream too. The old woman nodded and looked awfully happy about my answer before she told me that I would go to a magic school when I was sixteen.   
Why I had to be that age and wait, I had no idea.

So I carried on with my life for the next three years. Mum and Eric got married after he asked me if it was alright. I've always liked Eric, he treated mum with respect and like a queen. But him asking me for her hand meant so much to me. It showed me that he understood. Understood that I was "the man of the house". That I was the one who made sure everyone was healthy, fed and safe. He knew that he wasn't only asking to marry mum. He was asking me if I would allow him to look after everyone else. To become a father figure for me and my sisters. I couldn't deny him. He was truly a great man. A man with his own children, two daughters in fact. When Eric married mum, we all moved in with him and his daughters Violet and Katie.

It took me a few months but I slowly stepped back and focus on myself. On who I was, what I enjoyed and what my sexuality was. The last thing wasn’t hard to figure out, I’ve always enjoyed wearing my sister's clothing and messing around with mum’s makeup. But even though I knew that I was gay and feminine, it took way too long to admit that to mum. I thought she would be angry by the fact her only son was gay, that I would never carry on father’s last name. However, when I finally told her, she just pulled me into a tight hug and said:  
“The heart never lies, if you desire other men then let it be so. It is your destiny. Whoever you decide to love will be a very lucky man”

Mum’s support meant the world to me and even though I was a young feminine boy who had my mother’s rare beauty, with the brightest lime green hair, shining blue ocean eyes and freckles blessing my cheeks, I still decided to hide it all when I arrived at the magical school. I was frightened that this new world didn’t accept men like me, men who enjoy makeup and dresses and be more feminine than masculine. I didn’t want others to ask me awkward questions like if I enjoyed so many “girly” things then why don’t I become one? The answer to that is that I enjoyed being a boy. 

Anyways, when Eric and Mum left me in front of the gates of what the sort welcoming letter called Iris Academy, I took a few minutes to calm my nerves.   
This was it for me.  
This was my new start.  
A chance for me to move on from my horrid past and start anew.

However, that journey was interrupted a few feet away from the school's gate as someone walked into me. I stumbled but didn’t fall, which I was thankful for before looking at the person who walked into me.  
I hoped it was another lost student.  
However, it wasn’t.  
Instead, I was welcomed by the sight of an adult man with long lanky black hair, a crooked nose, his thin lips twisted in a smirk but then I looked at his eyes. And honest to fucking god, his eyes were stunning. They were dark brown like perfectly melted chocolate.   
“A new student I see” he said slowly in a heavy British accent, his voice deep and smooth while his eyes looked up and down me with judgment “and what would your name be?”

“Luke Manchester, sir” I answered now looking at his brown robes and black cloak that was awfully similar to mine. At that moment the man, who was no doubt a teacher here, looked down at the huge red book he was carrying before he flicked to a page.  
“A Wildseed, how unsurprising and a wolf too” he paused there to look at my bright orange cloak that clashed with my bright green hair. “You haven’t been here for an hour and you’re already causing trouble, typical” and even though I had no idea what he was talking about, it still hurt to be classed as “trouble”. “Ten Demerits, I hope you show more focus on your studies than you do walking, Mr Manchester”  
“Err, you’re the one who walked into me” I pointed out but an icy death glare (seriously, if looks killed I’d be dead) shut me up.  
“Go to your dorm” he paused there to gesture to the huge four leveled building behind him “and if your hair colour is truly natural, please come find me if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable. Even in this world, people forget how to act around beauty” and with that, the man walked away. However, his words made me stand where I stood for a few minutes while I terrible blush went on my cheeks. 

Did he really just call me beautiful? I had no makeup on, my hair was overgrown so it could cover my right eye and the hideous scar there and the awful grey school robes I was wearing did nothing for my figure. I decided not to think about it and just shrug it off. I’ve had plenty of people calling me beautiful before so it was nothing new. If I a dollar for every time I heard how beautiful I am, I would be a millionaire. I’ve always known it was because of my rare looks, mum always said a boy with lime green hair and blue eyes was one in a hundred.

That one in a hundred changed to one in a thousand when I met my roommate and soon to be best friend Charlie Harmly, a small and very cute blond Neko boy with one green eye and blue eye. After staring at me in complete shock he told me I was one in a thousand, and even in the magical world where there are so many different species my looks were rare and desired. 

I spent my time at Iris Academy working and studying hard and often than not I would either ask Professor Grabiner (the man who walked into me my first day at school) or a girl I knew called Ellen Middleton for books to read so I could learn even more. I ran for something called treasurer, I thought it would allow me to do awesome stuff for all of the school's events, like organizing the decorations, the food and drinks and putting my creativity to good use. However, when I got the job I soon found out that I was only going to be the schools mail-boy, delivering mail at five in the freaking morning! The only highlight for me is that I saw Professor Grabiner in the room, doing work before he had to watch over Freshmen and Sophomore detentions. I would usually talk to him, well, at him. I would tell him about the books I read before asking him questions which he would answer, I would talk about the interesting or funny things that happened in my week, I would rant about what annoyed me. Mum always called me a chat a box, that I could talk for England but when I didn’t talk poor Professor Grabiner’s ear off, he would raise his eyebrow at me and say “why are you so quiet? You’re usually giving me a headache by now. Is something the matter?”. And every time he said that he would actually look worried. After a few months of chatting to him, or at him, and realizing he wasn’t as evil as everyone said he was, I started to fall for him. For his intelligence, his sarcastic humour, the kindness in his heart, his stunning eyes and for his maturity. 

When I realized I was slowly falling in love with him, I tried to tell myself how wrong it was. He was my teacher, he was a lot older than I was and I knew nothing about him. Plus, everyone knows that schools don’t allow student-teacher relationships! I tried to like a boy called Donald Danson. He was my age, not bad looking, funny and energetic. When he showed me a dudgeon that we got stuck in before Professor Grabiner saved us from, I knew he would be too childish for me. Even Professor Grabiner seem to agree because when Donald left us alone so he could have a word with me, all he said was:   
“You’re too bright to be dragged in Mr Danson’s games of attention-seeking. If you are bored then find a hobby that won’t bother me”

That told me more than his actual words did. His voice dipped and it was gentle, like if he didn’t want to raise his voice at me but wanted me to listen. His eyes glowed with something I couldn’t read and his expression told me that he expected more for me and that he was disappointed at my behaviour. All of this told me that he thought of me positively. He clearly saw my maturity and was confused why I would do something so stupid and childish.   
At that moment, I thought that he may grow to like me as a friend and I was perfectly happy with that. I’ve always been a teacher’s pet and made friends with the teachers more than I did with the actual students.

However, just when I thought I got his friendship, January the 25th happened and it changed everything...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do love some back story!   
Luke's backstory is a bit harsh I must admit but everything has a reason....


	4. How a day changes everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn't know what to call this chapter -_-
> 
> Anyway, some scences will be slightly simular to the game's with my own personal twists :D

January the 25th started out as a normal Saturday would. I woke up at six in the morning, got my school uniform for the day to quietly creep out of my dorm room so I wouldn’t wake up Charlie before I had a lovely cold shower that always woke me up. After my shower, I walked to the mailroom which was on the second floor of the gym building. However, when I walked to the mailroom which was at the end of the corridor I saw that the light was already on.   
“Oh, Professor Grabiner must already be in there” I thought to myself a smile already on my lips “maybe I could ask about mental magic. I mean, I can do magic with a wand but is mental magic real? Can magical souls do magic without wands and just think?”  
I opened the door which closed behind me  
“Good morning, Professor!” I cheerily said in a voice way too loud for him so early in the morning. (Yeah, I’ve lost count how many times he complained about that). However, then I saw what was happening and my heart was in my mouth.

Professor Grabiner was laid flat on the ground on his back surrounded by chalk. The chalk was written in his hand but I didn’t understand the language but I knew from my extra studying that this was some sort of ritual. I was proven correct when I looked up and saw a blue creature hovering over him, a wicked smirk on its face. The only way I can explain the creature was it looked like the genie from the cartoon Aladdin. Just not as friendly and more horrifying. He had sharp knife-like teeth, nails that were like daggers and dark purple eyes.  
“Run away little boy, this meat is mine and I intend to feast” it said in a dark rough voice, each word pronounce with a growl. 

At that moment, I hurried to think of an idea to wake Professor Grabiner up. I knew he was the one who summoned this creature -whatever it was- so he could surely get rid of it. I knew I couldn’t pass the chalk writings because the creature might decide it wants young meat. I ran to the cupboards at the back of the room and yanked the doors open before I threw everything I could find at Professor Grabiner’s head. A rubber, a pencil, some marbles and even a small container that held paper clips before I got angry and threw glue stick at his head. Nothing worked. Nothing was waking him up, not even my shouts. Whatever sleep spell he was under it was a powerful one. I thought about getting Professor Potsdam but her office was in another building and I don’t know if-wait a minute.

I had a light bulb moment as I realized something.  
“If Professor Grabiner could summon you, that must mean you’re under his control, that he’s your master of some sorts. That means you can’t hurt him!” I said to the creature and the expression of shock on its face told me that I was right. But then I had another light bulb moment.  
“You’re trapped in his chalk circle so if I...” I paused there to take out my wand and point it at Professor Grabiner before I performed the spell “Teleport Other”. It took a lot of effort, focus and magical Mana but I managed to teleport Professor Grabiner next to me. dropping my wand, I knelt beside him to grab at his shoulders and shake him with all my might  
“Professor! Professor wake up!” I screamed before I slapped him around the face with all my strength. It always worked in movies. However, it seemed it didn’t work in real life because he still didn’t wake up. At that moment, I stood up to run to Potsdam’s office to tell her everything but then hands went around my throat and before I knew it I was looking into dark purple eyes. Memories of looking in another pair of angry and murderous eyes ran in my mind. Those eyes were gold and they belonged to my father before he attacked me...  
At that moment, I knew this was how I died.  
I wasn’t going to be lucky again, this creature's attack wouldn’t miss.

“You have intelligence...The one you saved would have liked that...However, what your foolish knowledge didn’t know is that this creature follows its master” the creature said which made me look to the floor.  
It was then I realized that I didn’t only teleport Professor Grabiner but his chalk circle too, the very chalk circle I was stood in the middle of...It suddenly made sense. Of course, the spell or whatever he did would follow him. It was his magic holding onto it after all. It wouldn’t leave him until he ordered it.  
“I will give you the luxury of the knowledge that you were correct. This one was protected but you...I will enjoy. Just youth, just power-”  
“LUKE!” Professor Potsdam’s voice suddenly screamed after I heard a bang behind me, I thought the bang was the sound of one of my organs exploding. I guess not...  
“You will not touch that child!” Potsdam screamed, her voice as loud as a steel bell and to my surprise, I saw Professor Grabiner expression shift. Oh, he wakes up from her shouts and not mine?! What the fuck?!  
“He is my rightful prey” the creature said, his hold of my neck tightening and now stopping any chance of me being able to breathe.   
“He...He is of the house of Grabiner” Potsdam said stuttering a little as she did so but then she stood up straight before she looked over to Grabiner and I did the same to only see that the bastard was slowly standing on his long shaky legs.   
Why the fuck couldn’t he do this a minute ago?!  
He looked around confused before his eyes landed on me and his expression turned furious. Why is he angry at me? How is any of this my fault?!   
“He is his affianced groom, whom he has pledged to marry this very day!” Potsdam said behind me but her words made my eyes widen in shock. She couldn’t be serious! Me, marry Grabiner?! Oh sure, I’ve somehow fallen for him a little but this is too far!   
I looked over to Grabiner, surely he wouldn’t agree too this!  
However:

“It is so sworn” Grabiner slowly said, closing his eyes when he did so, like if saying those words pained him. At that moment loud and harsh hissing filled the room before the blue creature disappeared and I could breathe again.   
“You absolute imbecile!” Grabiner screamed at me which made me jump and look at him in confusion before I became furious myself. He’s really blaming me for all of this, isn’t he?!   
“Not here, Hieronymous” Potsdam gently said before her hand went on my left shoulder to give it a comforting squeeze.   
“Do you know what you’ve done?!” Grabiner shouted at me completely ignoring Potsdam and before I could snap back, Potsdam said:  
“He was trying to save your life. Surely you wouldn’t want him to lose his souls for such an act” she said but wait, my soul?! So I could have died?! I nearly died because Grabiner was stupid enough to do whatever he was doing in the mailroom and not in the dungeons like a smart person would?!  
“I am not sure if this is an improvement” Grabiner muttered his posture relaxing a tiny bit but still pulling his angry glare.

“Um...I don’t understand what’s happening” I stuttered out which made Grabiner flip again   
“In the future, Mr Manchester, you should learn not to meddle with things you do not understand!” he screamed at me  
“What the hell was I meant to do then?!” I screamed back at him finally losing grip of my temper “I didn’t know that you were safe! I haven’t been tort about that creature or what to do with it! And look around, I tried to wake you up and I even tried to teleport you away! How the hell was I meant to know that this would fucking happen?!”  
“You should have thought for more than a second!”  
“And you should have thought to! You know I always come here every Saturday! You should have gone down to the dungeons where no one could walk in on you!-” “how dare you speak to me like this!”- “Don’t interrupt me just because you know I’m right! If you want to blame someone look in a fucking mirror!”  
“Enough!” Potsdam shouted angrily which shut us both up.

“Enough, there is no time for bickering! Hieronymous, I will take him away and explain. We will see you again at noon?”  
“As I appear to have little choice” Grabiner muttered glaring daggers at me while I did the same to him with my arms crossed over my chest, daring him to say something else to me. Thankfully, he didn’t, he just walked out of the room like a stroppy teenager. Once he was gone, Potsdam took me to a classroom that was empty because of the weekend.  
“What just happened?” I asked once we were inside the room and the door closed   
“Professor Grabiner recently came into possession of a Manus, a guardian spirit sworn to the service to his family line. He has been...Experimenting with it-” yeah, I didn’t want to know what she meant by that! “-When you crossed the containment wards, it began to feed on you. The only way to save you was to cause the spirit to recognize you as a rightful member of the family it serves” Potsdam explained in a soft voice, her expression full of pity.  
“Right...And that means I have to marry him like you said? Why marriage?”  
“Marriage is the only temporary option we had” Potsdam said before she gently smiled at me, the pity in her expression and green eyes fading away “and no doubt you already know that a wizard’s word is binding?”   
“Yes...” I sighed “but why today?! I’m only sixteen and he’s my teacher!”  
“The magical world accepts all relationships” Potsdam said with an awfully bright twinkle in her eyes “and sixteen is the age of consent in the magical world. You are a young adult to us which means you can marry and do all the things marriage involves~” 

“Oh, this is great...He’s going to hate me now” I muttered already knowing that there was no way out of this. This was a promise he had made. To break it would mean Grabiner would lose his magic while I would lose my life even though I had no part in making the promise. “How long do we have to be married for?”  
“A year and a day, after that your promise would be fulfilled and you can go your separate ways...That is if you decide to~” Potsdam said while she clearly forced her smile to not get any bigger. That made me frown, why was she so up for this? “I’m sure this isn’t the wedding you have dreamt of-” you can say that again! “-But, I have some lovely robes that should fit your petite and slender figure. But, I think this will turn out for the best, Hieronymous has already spoken highly of you. Something about an intelligent discussion of a book?” Potsdam said. And yes, I remembered that. It was after the Candle booth, where I nearly fainted into a table with candles after working the booth two hours more than I should have. Luckily for me, Grabiner caught me before I landed on the table and caught fire. He took me to a restaurant called The Glen where he brought me a drink. While I took a sip of my lovely warm coffee I noticed that he already had his nose in the book he was reading throughout my shift, quite happy with the idea of ignoring me. However, like always, I didn’t give him a chance to enjoy a quiet read as I asked questions about the book. At first, he was surprised that I understood most what he was talking about and asked what he called “surprising intellect questions”. The discussion about the book ran for two hours, he got so distracted and involved in what he was talking about while I listened to every word he said, we both forgot to keep a check of the time. When I finally got to my dorm room to sleep it was past one in the morning.   
“And you’ve already shown him that you won’t walk on eggshells around him, that you will speak your mind and tell him when he is wrong. But you also have shown him your kindness, your intelligence. All of which he will no doubt learn to like”  
“Oh yes, he will no doubt want to talk to me after our forced marriage...It’s basically a shotgun wedding just without the gun”  
“Oh hush! Don’t be so negative! For now! We will need the ribbons, a basket, a witness and I’ll need to alter the dress-” “dress?! I thought you said it was robes!” “-Dear, I have many things but wizard wedding robes isn’t one of them...I’m afraid you will have to borrow one of my old wedding dresses”  
“Wait, you’ve been married?”  
“Oh yes! Seven blissful times~” Potsdam smiled brightly   
“Were....Were any of them forced like this?”  
“Stop seeing this as a forced wedding, dear” she said but I wondered how I was going to do that when it was true. “and don’t worry about the mail-” I wasn’t, in fact, I totally forgot about it “-my little helper will see to that! Anyways, let’s get you ready!”

And with that she bustled around me, spinning me this way and that, before she pulled a dress over my head once I was in my underwear. She pinned the dress in the necessary places while she was sorting out the dress she gave me an apple to eat and to no doubt keep me quiet. But I had nothing else to say. I knew this was one of those moments in my life that destroys everything and I had to keep quiet and play along.   
I had to do what has to be done no matter how I feel about it.  
My chance of a new and happier life ruined in a day by the universe being a dick to me.

I did everything Potsdam told me to do with a blank mind and no emotion. I washed my hands multiple times, removed the dress just to put it back on, I didn’t question how an ear of corn has anything to do with Courage and kindness because all the answers I thought of was nothing clean.  
Once the dress was finished, I looked down at myself. The dress fitted me perfectly, it hugged my hips and my slender chest and it puffed out at the bottom. It was a mermaid dress basically. I watched Petunia-Petunia now because she said since I’m going to marry Grabiner I might as well call her that in privet now- tie a ribbon around my waist that was the colour of my eyes, well eye. She tried to remove my fringe from over my right eye but I slapped her hand away. I haven’t removed my hair from over my eye since I arrived at the school. Which of course means, no one knows about my scar...Well, apart from Charlie, who sees it every morning when I get up with wild hair before I comb it in place. 

I nearly laughed when I was lead down to the dungeons. Of course, our wedding would be held down there. It was the safest spot to have it.   
“At least the candlelight is nice” I thought to myself once I entered the damp and cold dudgeon room that was going to hold my first marriage. But then my eyes fell on Minnie Cochran, the freshmen class president. I didn’t know her too well, I’ve only spoken to her because I had to because I was treasurer. Even though she asked me for advice about strange things before today. Like is it normal to spend all your time with someone you’re dating -my answer was no, no it wasn’t normal. However, Petunia might trust her to keep the secret of my marriage but I did not. It might sound a little sexist but she was a teenage girl and somehow she might slip up. I will have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Minnie squeezes my hand with an awkward expression, trying and failing to comfort me. Not like I needed it, this isn’t the first time I dealt with my life going horribly wrong. Soon, Petunia stood in front of me with a small and soft smile but then I heard someone clear their throat next to me. Slowly, I turned rightwards just to see Grabiner dressed in brilliant red wedding robes. The colour matched his eyes and he looked so much better without his hat.  
His glare told me that I was staring so I quickly turned away as I embarrassed blush slowly appeared on my face because I remembered that I was wearing a damn dress.  
“Shall we begin?” Petunia asked and all she had for an answer was a mutter from Grabiner “stand with me then”

We walk in step across the dark cold floor, carrying baskets in our hands, mine contained an ear of corn, decorated with blue and orange ribbons, while Grabiner’s had a tree branch and decorated with black and gold ribbons. Petunia started to speak but I just kept my eyes on the floor not listening to the words at all. All I could do was to convince myself that this wasn’t the end of the world, that things could have been worse and that this didn’t need to destroy my life. It’s just another thing I have to deal with. I did hear her say that we were here by our own will I couldn’t help but snort at that which earned me an icy glare from my soon to be husband. She also talked about loyalty which I already knew. I knew any changes of romance are now out of the window for me. Not liked I cared anyway, I decided as soon as I came to the school that I would stay single. And I stayed true to that.   
Until now, that is.

“...And with each, the gifts provided for the other...” Petunia said and that was our cue.  
Grabiner and I slowly turned to each other and for the first time during this horrible day, our eyes met. Slowly, I held out my left hand to present the handle of the basket to him:  
“I give to you my kindness and courage” I said while thinking I’ve already done that and am doing it right now. Grabiner told hold of my basket handle with his right hand while holding out his basket with his left.  
“I give to you my wisdom and my protection” he said now looking over my shoulder like if he was talking to the wall behind me. Holding in a sigh, I took hold of his basket with my right hand while he did the same with his left so our hands are crossed together. At that moment Minnie and Petunia stepped in -one on each side of us- to drape the ribbons on our baskets over our hands.  
“As two streams join to form a river, so your two lives join to create something greater than they were. One family and one future, for one year and one day, are ye bound...You may now kiss the groom!” at that moment both Grabiner and I glared angrily at her.  
“Do we have to?” - “is that strictly necessary?” we asked at the same time  
“Well, no” Petunia muttered looking far too disappointed.

With a sigh of relief, I quickly let go of the baskets, sadly it was the same time as Grabiner so the baskets ended up falling onto the ground. At that moment we looked at each other again before Grabiner glared at me, making me glare back at him.  
“You are to stay out of my way. Do not expect special treatment or privileges. You will not use my name, you will not enter my rooms and no one is to know about this. Do you understand?!” Grabiner hissed at me.  
“Yes sir” I said before I looked at Minnie who jumped in surprise “do you?”  
“Y-y-yes” she stuttered out clearly not expecting this   
“You better had!” I snapped at her  
“Threatening other students will get you nowhere”  
“Sorry, but one of us has to make sure everyone here understands that this is a secret. After all, we do both understand that if this gets out that there are more than each other in this room, yes?”  
“I-” “Wonderful!” I interrupted not caring what he had to say to that before I looked at Petunia. “If that’s everything, I would like to get out of this dress and forget this ever happened. Minnie, be a dear and help me, won’t you?” I smiled before I grabbed her arm and pulled her into another room in the dudgeon.

Once Minnie helped me out of my dress, I returned to my dorm room and tried to forget that none of what just happened actually happened. However, no matter how I tried, the knowledge that I didn’t have a clue what I had to do to be a good husband, was always in the back of my head. I didn’t want to make a mistake again that will end up causing trouble again. So, I decided to talk to him about it next Saturday while avoiding his lessons, I needed to work on my black and white classes anyways. When February the 1st arrived, Grabiner entered the mailroom when I was sorting out the piles. He didn’t waste time, he went straight to business asking me about Valentine’s Day. It was so simple for me to decide that a card should cost one dollar and the little sweet packets I planned to make with my friends would be 2 dollars. He nodded at me before he turned to leave  
“Wait!” I cried which made him sigh loudly and turn to face me again  
“What is it now?” he asked already clearly annoyed.  
“I need to ask you some questions about...Well, about our marriage. What am I supposed to do now? What are the rules? What are my responsibilities?” I asked and when he opened his mouth I quickly added “don’t you dare say something about blaming me for all this, we both know whose fault this is. So, don’t even bother starting that pointless argument”  
To my shock that made him close his mouth before he sighed loudly again.

“You retain your independence. You are not required to be subservient. You are expected to show me respect, which you should already as a student. As you already know, there is no need for you to visit my quarters. Should I depart this life, you would be required to help dispose of my effects. I have no intention of placing you in that circumstance” that could be debatable after the whole Manus thing “Therefore, by our agreement, we can place the matter behind us and go about our business. There is no need to refer to this “marriage” until it comes time to dissolve it”  
“Right...What are your responsibilities, sir?...Um...I do still call you sir, right?”  
“Yes”  
“And you can still call me Mr Manchester?”  
“No, I cannot. You are a member of my family, and I must acknowledge that. Therefore I would prefer not to address you at all” He said nastily but I just snorted loudly at that making him frown at me in anger  
“Oh...You’re serious? Oh, come on! That’s not going to attract unwanted attention is it? Imagine the other students....Hey, I wonder why Grabiner isn’t calling on Luke anymore like he used to, I thought he was the best in his classes-” “They w-” “oh yes they will notice! And I can’t keep avoiding your classes either because that will be noticed too. And I don’t have the power to disappear into the floorboards either. So, like it or not, you will have to address me somehow” I said with my hands on my hips. Mum always called this stance “I’m right so listen to me”. 

Grabiner was quiet for a few moments, his expression a mixer of shock, anger, and annoyance. I raised my eyebrow at him, it was a silent dare to him to say that I was wrong. Thankfully, he didn’t, instead, he answered my question:  
“My Responsibilities are to protect and support you to the best of my ability. I doubt you will notice any difference”  
“Right...Thank you for explaining” I paused there to pick up the mail I finished sorting out “Have a good day” and with that, I went. 

After that, I carried out my school life as normally as I could. It seemed like Grabiner listened to what I said to him as whenever I put my hand up in class he would just nod at me. I happily called that a win. However, I stopped talking to him on Saturday’s and he never bothered to change that like he used to. Whenever I had a question or wanted a new book to read I would go to Ellen and she would help me. I didn’t speak to Grabiner and he didn’t talk to me unless we had to in class.   
However, that all changed on February the 28th...

I was walking towards my dorm room when I heard  
“Oh Luke~”  
I recognized the voice straight away so I turned to face Petunia.  
“Yes, headmistress?” I asked with a polite smile on my face  
“Might I borrow you for a bit?” she asked her expression worried   
“Of course” I gently said getting worried myself before she grabbed my arm and pulled me into an empty classroom.  
Oh, this must be serious.  
“I’m afraid dear Hieronymous is a bit under the weather” she said which made me blink at her in confusion for a whole three seconds before I remembered who that name belonged to.  
Oh no, why do I have a bad feeling about this?  
“Could I trouble you to carry up some soup from the kitchens to his room? It has to be done by hand, or it might spill”  
Ah, that’s why I had a bad feeling about this. 

She’s asking me to go to the one place I’m not welcomed and to see the one person who wants nothing to do with me. She’s basically asking me to go into a dragons den.  
“Why would the soup spill if you’re using teleport?” I asked in confusion “aren’t you just teleporting it from one surface to another? How would it spill between that space? In fact, wouldn’t me walking upstairs be more risk of spilling it?”

Petunia stuttering at my question with an expression that clearly told me that she didn’t think I would ask that, was quite funny.  
“Do it and you may get into his good books again~” she said with a wink and a knowing smile which made me blush “I knew it!” she suddenly squealed “you’re in love with him!”  
“Shh!! Shout it any louder and the whole school will hear you!” I snapped blushing furiously now, even after our forced marriage and the fact he is no longer talking to me, my heart still belonged to him. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to forget about his kindness, the way he worried for me when I didn’t talk to him, the way he was always there to answer any questions I had. I couldn’t forget about the soft smile he would give me or his stunning eyes.  
“His rooms are on the fourth floor above Horse Hall. To get there you’ll need to climb the stairs where Red and Blue magic classrooms are placed. He likes the dark blue China set and enjoys pea and ham soup. The silverware goes knife on the right, fork on the left, spoon on the top. The door to his rooms has a lion knocker, give it four taps and the door will open. Good luck!” and with that, she walked away leaving me stood there sputtering like an idiot. 

Twenty minutes later, I was stood in front of the huge white double doors that lead to Grabiner’s privet rooms, looking at the golden knocker that was a lion holding the knocker in its mouth.  
“This is so stupid” I muttered to myself “he’ll be furious. He’ll kill me with his dagger worthy glare. I can’t do this”  
“Are you going to knock?” asked a rough and growling voice which made me look over my shoulder but no one was there “down here, kid,” said the voice. Slowly, I looked down at the golden knocker and before my eyes, the lion’s mouth moved “if it helps, he doesn’t have enough energy to scream at you”  
Oh, fantastic, I’ve gone crazy.  
Magical or not, door knockers don’t speak!  
I quickly held the knocker in the lion's mouth and tapped it three times on the door. Suddenly, both white doors opened and I slowly walked into the room.

The first thing I noticed was the huge king-sized bed in the middle of the room with two wooden side cabinets next to it, both of which were covered in books.  
“You!” Grabiner’s voice suddenly snapped which made me slowly turn rightwards to see a small living room on the opposite side of the room. He was sat on a three seated couch in front of a huge roaring fire, with a two-seater next to it. On the other side of the fireplace were three bookcases that were all overflowing with books. Against the other wall was his dark oak desk.  
“What are you doing here?” he growled   
“Professor Potsdam sent me with your soup” I answered as I slowly placed the tray on the coffee table in front of where he was sat and straight away I felt the lovely warmth of the fire.  
“Surely, you knew you could teleport this up” he muttered dressed in a simple white shirt and loose brown trousers, with his hair bedridden.   
“I haven’t teleported something that far before” I lied because I totally have and how he raised his eyebrow at me, he knew that too.  
“Um...Is there anything else I can do for you?” I asked in a soft voice, making my voice as polite as possible.  
“You can leave me in peace” he said which made me glare at him and opened my mouth to snap at him before remembering he was sick, and probably had a headache, and me shouting at him wouldn’t help it at all.  
“Fine” I huffed in annoyance as quietly as I possibly could, which probably not all that quiet “I’m gone!” and with that, I turned to leave but when I stepped forward a quiet “wait” made me stop and turn back at Grabiner.  
“I...Appreciate what you have done for me. However, I would prefer that it was not necessary. I am not accustomed to having students in my rooms. I prefer my privacy” he said and I could fully understand that.   
“I understand” I said with a small smile “I hope you’ll get well soon”  
“I will be fine. Now, go”  
I didn’t wait to leave when he asked so politely, well, politely for him.

After that it seemed that something changed though I didn’t know what. But when the Maple Ceremony was held and the rest of the school was having pancakes, I was alone in the library drawing, Grabiner walked into the room to return a book.  
“Was that a good read?” I asked at once before standing up to check out the book he just returned. Ah, it was an interlibrary loan, it got to be good. But then I checked out the title “Arhitektura Slovenskega Kozolca”. I looked at him   
“I didn’t think that architecture was your thing” I said placing the book back  
“You know of it?” he asked clearly surprise raising his eyebrow at me  
“Arhitektura Slovenskega? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it means some sort of Architecture, the clue is in the first word. But reading about how wizards built things isn’t for me”  
“It has some interesting history in its pages”   
“I would rather read an actual history book” I said with a shrug “trying to understand building dimensions gives me a headache, Math has never been a strong subject for me”  
“I’m sure if you study, you will learn”  
“You sound like my Math teacher”  
“They sound very wise”  
“They really weren’t” I said with a laugh “had to keep checking his a Math book to see if he was going it right. One time he actually forgot it and we had a free lesson, think I spent that time doing extra science work. You wouldn’t believe how many theories have been destroyed for me because of magic. Shame most of them don’t follow science theory” I said before realizing I was blabbering and taking way too much.   
“Some do” Grabiner said which made me blink at him but then I watched him pick up another interlibrary loan to hold it in front of me “read this book, I think it will satisfy your curiosity” he said. In reaction, I smiled brightly at him before I took the book from him  
“I’ll give it a read, thank you, sir” and with that, I returned to my table to read the book.

That day seemed to change things as well, Grabiner would no longer shy away from asking me questions in class and he would actually look me in the eye. Whatever, I did that day, it made him warm up to me a little...

On March the 8th I was surprised with a wedding gift from Grabiner’s father. I was so confused, how did he know about our marriage?! Was there a thing in the magical world where fathers know when their sons got married? But if that’s true then he totally missed the memo about me being a Mr and not a Mrs! I read the name again but no, it defiantly said “Mrs Grabiner”. Curious and confused I opened the envelope. Inside was a small wooden box decorated in gold, fastened shut and a letter on top of it written on thick, creamy paper. Slowly, I read it:  
“To the newest member of the Grabiner Family:  
Congratulations on managing to drag Hieronymous to the altar at last, and my pre-emptive condolences as well. I know my son is no peach to live with. Gets it from me I’m sure, I’d ask my ex-wife, if I could find her! It’s a waste to spend your whole life mourning for the past, and I hope he’s learning that now.   
Too many hard words have come between us. I expect he still burns my letter unread? But you, dear lady, must have found the key to his heart. A cleaver and persistent woman, I’m sure. He would have nothing less.   
If you have need of anything, feel free to call on me. If you haven’t made your own arrangements, I can provide reliable retainers for the children. Yes, even in the colonies! It was his wish that I keep my distance, but I still have my contacts.   
As a wedding present, I’ve enclosed the seals and portal signatures for the Revane Cottage. It’s recently refreshed and warded. Use it for the honeymoon and discard it, or change it to your whims and keep it, or sell it if you wish. I have been keeping it for Hieronymous, ever since he admired it as a child. Now it is his. I would do more if the boy would let me, but we are each as stubborn as the other. I’ll not press him so soon.  
Warmest regards,  
Aloysius Grabiner  
16th Viscount Montague,  
Shade of Shetlock” 

Wow, there was a lot for me to get my head around. First, there was the fact that Grabiner’s own father doesn’t know that I’m a man even though he somehow knows about the wedding. He talked about children and if he’s hoping I’ll pop any out, he is terribly mistaken, science doesn’t work like that. Then there was all that talk about the wedding present, some cottage that Grabiner wanted as a child? Then it was the question of what Aloysius meant by colonies and contacts.   
What was clear though that he was someone of high status. 16th Viscount Montague, that got to be some sort of noble title or something which meant that there was more to my husband than I thought. Not only did he have a past worth mourning for, but he had a noble father. I wondered what happened in the past. It can’t be anything to do with Grabiner’s mother because Aloysius said “if he could find her” and not “if I could ask her” so she was still clearly alive. 

I looked at the small wooden box that came with the letter. The key to that cottage must be in there. Meaning if I opened it I might get teleported to it. Not wanting to take that risk, I put both the box and letter back into the envelope and placed it to one side and started to sort out the mail. Before long, Grabiner himself walked into the room  
“Um sir, this came in the mail” I gently said holding out the envelope to him. He took it before frowning at me at the open end  
“It was addressed to me”  
“It says, “Mrs” and last time I checked you were a male” he angrily said to me and yeah, okay, maybe he sorta had a point there  
“Well, unless you’re married to a woman I don’t know about, it was clearly for me” I said “look it’s from your father. He sent a wedding present, I didn’t open it because it’s all really meant for you”  
“I see” he simply said before he skimmed through the letter before staring at me before raising his eyebrow at me, like if he was expecting me to say something. The only thing I did was raise my eyebrow at him. He can think twice if he thinks I’m going to say something first!  
“It seems you have learned some sense” he began which made me frown in confusion “Or at least, some restraint. I believe five merits would not be out of the question”  
“What?” I laughed “you don’t have to bribe me, I won’t ask anything” laughing harder now before I picked up the sorted mail “thank you but no thank you” and with that, I left the room laughing. I just thought it was hilarious how my husband tried to bribe me out of asking him questions...

On March the 17th, I was stopped in the corridor by Petunia   
“Good morning, professor” I said happily said, I felt awfully happy today, I knew it was because I knew spring break was coming up and I couldn’t wait to see my family.  
“Morning Luke, I wondered if you had plans for the holiday”  
“I do! I’m going home to see my family, I’ve missed them so much!” I said giggly bouncing on the spot.  
“Oh...I thought, perhaps you could stay at the school” Petunia slowly said which stopped me bouncing to stand still, a confused frown on my face  
“Why would I do that?”  
“Ah...Perhaps you should come with me” she said before dragging me into an empty classroom. Once the door was closed she continued her sentence “I was thinking that it would give you some time to spend with Hieronymous outside the classroom environment”

I couldn’t help it, I just laughed at her.  
“That’s a terrible idea!” I laughed “we’re only seeing eye to eye now because I haven’t been pushing him”   
“But you’ve been getting on so well with him”  
“Because I’m not pushing, staying here over the holiday to spend time with him will be a big push” I said before laughing again “and what would we do?! Go on date?! Pff, pigs will fly if that happens”   
“Hieronymous is quite a romantic” Petunia said which made me stop laughing before she sighed “There are things you ought to know when dealing with that minefield of a man”  
“Oh?” I sounded thinking that the description of “minefield of a man” suited Grabiner perfectly.  
“When he was a young wizard-” “wait, wait!” I interrupted which made her look at me in confusion   
“Don’t tell me about his past! It hasn’t got anything to do with me!”  
“It would make it much easier for you to understand him better if you knew”  
“The same thing could be said about me” I pointed out but Petunia just raised her eyebrow at me “and I wouldn’t like someone to tell what happened to me without my permission. It’s Grabiner’s past and he should be the one to tell me it and not anyone else”  
“There is a reason why Hieronymous is the way he is”  
“Again, the same thing could be said about me. Now, like I said, I’m going home for the holiday to see my family” I said and with that, I walked out of the room...

After that I got friendlier with Grabiner, I would wave to him whenever I saw him and he would nod at me in return. We talk about the books we read, or I would ask him questions and we even talked about our holidays. He made a joke about going to the beach and when I believed him he said “April fools” and even though it was a terrible joke it had me laughing and snorting like an idiot. 

However, because I thought everything was going perfectly and I was actually happy the universe decided to be a dick to me again.   
It happened on the 7th of April, when I was in Green Magic everyone was whispering to each other. Like if they were all sharing some big secret. It didn’t bother me. Not until I saw some of those people point at me. At that moment I looked at Charlie who was as confused as I was. It wasn’t until after class that I decided to ask someone what was going on. Everyone kept looking at me before they whispered and giggled. The first person I found was the Neko male from Toad Hall called Manuel.  
“Are you alright?” he asked a worried expression on his face looking at me but then at Charlie.  
“I don’t know...What’s happening?” I asked   
“Is he cruel to you?” Manual asked and at that moment I felt my heart sink like if it was suddenly crushed by an invisible weight. I knew he wasn’t talking about Charlie. I knew who he meant, sadly Charlie didn’t   
“Is who cruel to him?” he asked next to me, tilting his head a little while doing so  
“His husband” Manual answered looking back at me at the same time Charlie did. My best friend was clearly confused. But I didn’t care about that, I was busy with not having a panic attack. This couldn’t be possible! There was no way everyone knew about my marriage! I haven’t told a soul and I doubt the professor wou-wait, a fucking minute...There was one other person at the wedding. One person I just knew who would spill the secret.  
At that moment my confusion turned to anger.  
How fucking dare she spill the secret!

At that moment, I turned and stormed away with the goal of finding Minnie, firm in my mind.  
“Luke, wait!” Charlie shouted behind me but I was running now and he had no hope of keeping up with me. However, when I ran up to the second floor of the gym’s building, a foot suddenly went under mine and I went flying on to the floor. Groaning, in slight pain, I slowly stood up just to see Angela Kirsch, aka the bitch of the school. Seeing her only pissed me off even more  
“My congratulations to you, I just heard about your marriage. Let people know a bit late didn’t you? But I suppose you didn’t want everyone to know how you were earning your grades” her words did nothing to help my anger and I was so very close to hitting her. Girl or not.   
“Fuck off, Angela” I hissed in anger feeling a strange warmth surround me before I realized it was my magic. But then things got even worse, before I could push past the bitch that was Angela, a wave of students surrounded me. They all hounded me with questions.  
“Where did you have your honeymoon?”  
“Do you really love Professor Grabiner?”  
“How was Grabby able to get hitched to a beauty like you?”  
“What is he like in bed?”  
“How big is he?”

All those questions I didn’t want to think about never mind answer if I knew the answer to them all!   
“Please, let me be!” I cried but then I heard:  
“YOU!”  
At that moment I froze, knowing that voice anywhere. It was easy for Grabiner to go past the other students before he wrapped his fingers tightly around my arm, his eyes filled with anger. “You will come with me!”   
I didn’t have a choice, his hold on my arm too strong for me to be able to pull away. He dragged me inside his classroom, slamming the door behind us while he did so. At that moment I was scared. I was now alone with an angry and powerful wizard. When he let go off my arm I place my hand over it flinching at the pain.   
That’s gonna bruise.  
“I guess you think this is a joke” Grabiner angrily said making me look at him “show me kindness until I warmed up to you just to make me a laughing stock of the entire school! And to think I thought that you would be too mature for these types of games! Your utter lack of discretion-”  
“It wasn’t me!” I screamed at him  
“You’ve already made a fool out of me, but yet you need to repeat the offense. Not once but twice!-”  
“-It wasn’t me! I didn’t tell anyon-” but my words were cut short by unseen hands taking hold of me and pinning me up against the wall.  
At that moment I was truly terrified, the memories of dads attack now clear in my mind, repeating over and over again while the weight crushing my heart got worse.  
This was it...

I was going to be attacked all over again and there is not a damn thing I could do about it.  
“NO. MORE. LIES!” he screamed his voice as loud as steel bells, his magical power steaming off him like a heatwave. “I have sworn an oath to take you as my husband and protect you. I cannot harm you, I cannot divorce you until the year is up. I dare not send you away...And so you believe that there is nothing I can do to you. Push me again, make a fool of me again, try and play with my heart again, dare to not listen to my orders and I will keep you so very safe-” I couldn’t listen anymore because I realized that he was threatening me because he thought I was the one who spilled the secret. That he began to like me if not fall for me, and now the secret is out he thinks I played him. That I made him fall for me so I could play some sick game! He actually believed I could do that! He believed that I was the one who told everyone even though I told him not to blame me first! He forgot about Minnie, and he’s pointing the finger at me! My fear soon changed to pure fury within a second.   
This wasn’t fair!  
Why was he blaming me?!  
Why wouldn’t he listen to me?!  
Why does he have to threaten me like this?!

The warmth that surrounded me before returned only this time it was now as hot as a fire. I felt it all over my body and deep in my core. I felt powerful magic crack within the air while my hands burned like if they were on fire.   
I wasn’t going to stand for this!  
I wasn’t going to let someone else attack me like this!  
I’m not going to be a victim of abuse again!  
Suddenly, there was a loud crack and Grabiner was thrown against a desk which ended his spell and me falling to the ground. However, I didn’t wait.  
I stood back on my feet, drowning in the powerful magic that was now shaking the glass of the windows in their frames. I felt the magic wrap around my entire body like hot breath.   
“You the hell do you think you are?!” I shouted the windows now shaking even harder “how dare you threaten me and attack me like that! I will not stand for it! I will not stand here and let myself be hurt again by another man! It wasn’t me who told our stupid secret! And it doesn’t take a fucking genius to figure out who it was! I fucking told you on our wedding day! It was Minnie! I told you not to blame me, that it would likely be her and I was fucking right!” I ended up screaming, the magic that was flowing from my body now cracking the windows it shook. I’ve always been gifted in Red Magic but never like this. This is the first time my magic ran with my emotions, that it was clear to feel and control. “So go and threaten her, pin her against a wall! But, I know you won’t because she’s a sweet little girl, but let me tell you something” I paused there to move closer to him and he actually moved back no doubt feeling my powerful magic too. “If you ever do something like this again, I will burn you alive” and with that, I left the classroom to return to my dorm room. I knew going to have a chat with Minnie after what just happened was a terrible idea. I was already pissed and my magic was out of control, flowing from me like a heatwave. I needed to calm down, get my magic under control again...

After that day, I found Minnie and screamed at her. I called her a bitch for letting the secret slip after everything I’ve done for her, after I tried to help her with her overbearing boyfriend, after I went to Grabiner to tell him about her creep of a boyfriend. She ended up crying, telling me it just slipped out when she was talking to a friend about being trapped, which got me angrier. It was like if she was saying that I was trapped with a horrible husband. That, of course, got me ranting about how Grabiner wasn’t that bad, yes he was a fucking idiot and bastard at times but he had a kind and sweet side to him before storming off. I avoided Minnie and Grabiner like the plague after that, not wanting to see any of them, every-time I saw or walked past them, I could always feel my magic spark. To say I was still furious with them both was an understatement. However, during that time I practiced getting my red magic under control with William Danson. He tort me techniques that helped me control my Red Magic when I felt stressed or angry and over time, my magic stopped sparking within the air whenever I saw the two people I was furious at. But even the anger I felt for them faded over time. I found out what mum always said to me was true. Holding onto anger and hate truly does nothing for you. Grabiner noticed almost straight away that I was no longer angry enough to almost break the windows whenever I saw him. 

It was on May the 1st that Grabiner walked into the library where I was sat in the far corner reading a book. I knew it was the May Day Dance today but I wasn’t in the mood for it, plus I had no one to go with and I wasn’t even sure if I could. Oh sure, I could have gone with Charlie as a friend but he was already being joined by my other best friend India and I didn’t want to be a third wheel. Which I would be because my other friend Keesha wasn’t going to the dance either, she was with Virginia Danson running up and down the hill, the school was sat on.   
I looked up from my book to watch him slowly sit in front of me with his hands on his lap with an awkward expression on his face.  
“No amount of apologies in the world will admen the relationship-whatever it was-between us and I know that I have no right to ask for your forgiveness. I did not treat you like a gentleman should. You deserve the highest respect and I did not give it to you but if you would allow I would like to explain”  
“Explain what?” I angrily said “no matter your reasoning, you basically attacked me! Your husband and your student! I don’t understand how the hell you didn’t break any of the promises you made and I don’t really care anymore! Just go away and be thankful I didn’t report your arse!” and with that I lifted my book up so it blocked Grabiner from my sight.

“I jumped to conclusions, I thought your kindness was part of a game-” “why would I do that?” “-It would not be the first time. You are unaware but many students find it humorous to proclaim their “love” for me. It was wrong for me to assume that you would do the same. That you were kind to me to only make a fool out of me. And that foolish thought hurt me. I don’t usually admire one student over others, I’ve always treated them the same but with you...I didn’t realize until too late that I saw you more than just another student, I saw you as a friend...But because I thought that you betrayed me, I tried to control you by scaring you”  
“Why? Why would you do that and not listen to me?”  
“I was angry”  
“That’s not good enough!”  
“I know...”  
“So why are you here?” I asked now lowering my book onto the table to cross my arms across my chest and glared at him.   
“To ask if we can start a new” Grabiner said which made me frown “I know it’s a lot to ask and I don’t deserve it. But, I...I enjoy your company”  
“Oh please, you never talk back to me”  
“We both know that is a lie” Grabiner pointed out which made me huff in annoyance   
“Fine but we have to start again, we don’t mention the marriage unless we have to, you won’t jump to conclusions and actually listen to me for more than ten seconds. If we argue we don’t let it affect my classwork, you won’t shout or insult me” I said ticking everything off with my fingers.

“Those are terms I can agree with” Grabiner said with a small smile  
“Good” I simply said before going back to my reading however a throat cleared which made me look up to Grabiner who had a raised eyebrow “what?”  
“I believe friends get to know each other?” he simply said  
“Wait, you want to start anew now?” I asked and the only answer I got was a firm nod.

Well, shit...  
What do you talk about with a professor who is also your friend? Think Luke, think!   
“Okay...Let’s do a question for a question, shall we?”  
“Does that count as a question?” Grabiner asked with a teasing smirk  
“Oh, haha, very funny” I sarcastically said “and no, it doesn’t”  
“I like the sound of that idea, why don’t you go first?”  
“Age before beauty” I said gesturing to him because I honestly had no idea what to ask him  
“Apart from knowledge books, what do you enjoy reading?” Grabiner asked crossing his right leg over his left, clearly getting comfortable in the chair. 

We learned a lot about each other on that day. I learned that he enjoys reading (obviously), chess, flute playing, and chamber music, while he learned that I enjoyed drawing, cooking, singing and an odd chess game. While I had six sisters he had no siblings. I’m a duplicate of my mother while he is a duplicate of his father. My favourite colour is purple while his is blue. He enjoys wine like I do, when I told him that he raised his eyebrow at me. That’s when I told him that Eric ran a cafe and often uses wine for the meals and I may or may not had a few cheeky sips of said wine. While I enjoyed playing sports now and again, he did not, he would prefer to sit inside with a book. He’s been to Rome, Spain and France while I told him that my family couldn’t afford a holiday like that. I had no pets while he had a Ragdoll cat called Athena. His laugh is deep and rich but he prefers to keep it low and get it sound in his throat rather bark it out. I meanwhile, laughed loudly then snorted just to laugh some more because I snorted. We both found that out after one of his terrible jokes.

When we left each other, I had a magical pen in my trouser pocket, a pen that would allow me to write to him during the holidays if I wanted. My letters would teleport wherever he was once I signed my name. I honestly planned to write to him.  
Because after all, we’ve been through, that day made me see him as a friend. Maybe not a best friend, like Charlie but a friend never the less...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter the longest in the story so far?  
Yes, yes it is...


	5. An interrupted holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even at home, Luke cannot escape the plans and actions of a stubborn Headmistress...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gotta say I love Petunia and Luke in this chapter

Home, there was nothing like it. I’ve had many homes in my life and while the farm will always be my favourite and have a special place in my heart. The home I had now was nice. It simple, crowded, nosy and the outside was terribly old fashioned but it was still home. It was a lot better than the small flat we lived in when mum worked as a stripper at least.   
Plus, it’s amazing to finally spend time with my family! With mum, Eric and my six sisters plus small 20-week baby bump. Oh yes, mum is going to have another child with Eric, they’ve already had little Louise together and they planning to make this baby their last. Or at least mum is. I mean, she’s going to have had six children. Hopefully, bump will become an Ethan and not a June. Because Eric and I are seriously outnumbered. 

Talking about Eric, I was in the kitchen of his cafe together helping him cook the family meal for tonight with the leftovers of the day. Eric doesn’t like wasting food so if he doesn’t use any ingredients he will use them for family meals.  
“And there we go!” he smiled finishing the last plate with a brilliant smile his green eyes gleaming as he pulled off a netted hat off his copper hair “nine fantastic meals!”. And I knew his meals were always fantastic, he has won loads of rewards after all and has a very successful cafe.   
“*Toot* *Toot” I teased anyway, pretending to play a horn   
“Hey, at least I can reach all the ingredients” he teased back and in reaction, I slammed my left hand over my heart with a fake hurtful gasp but honestly it was so good to be able to have playful moments like this with him.   
“Come on then, let’s take these up…If you think you can reach the trays” that earned him a true glare as I’m only four foot and everyone is like either a foot or two taller than me. 

Laughing a six-foot Eric easily reached for the service trays and placed five plates on one making it two trays to carry up to the large flat upstairs. Eric café is one the ground floor of an old Victorian house that had four floors. The three other floors were our home. Together, Eric and I carried the trays up to the flat and into the large dining room which was once a kitchen but because of the café downstairs we didn’t really need a kitchen anymore. Sat waiting patiently at the large table were my mum and my six sisters. Kara (Sixteen) and her twin Emily and Rebecca (thirteen) my full sisters as they have the same father as me. Violet(fourteen) and Katie(thirteen) are Eric’s children from his previous marriage. And then there was little five-year-old Rosie the first child of Eric and mum. 

After Eric and I set down the meals everyone started to eat, well, I say everyone but I soon realized that both Emily and mum were looking at me. And when they both look at me, it only means that they are curious about something and will work together to get answers. It’s kinda scary how Emily is so much like mum.  
“So” Mum smiled placing her head in her hands leaning on the table on her elbows her bright jewel blue eyes twinkling brightly. Her long, light lime green hair in perfect curls behind her back “is there any boys you like?”  
That made me blush, out of everything she could ask me that is the first thing she asks?! WHY?! It didn’t help that it got the attention of everyone but Kara and Rosy.   
“Look how he’s blushing, there’s totally a boy” Emily said with a playful smirk her own copper eyes gleaming brightly, her hair was shoulder length and was a darker shade than mums.   
“You gotta tell us about him” Violet chipped in brushing a strand of her long copper hair over her shoulder her green eyes focus on her plate. I looked around the table to see four of my sisters and mum looking at me expectedly. This is what I meant when I said I was outnumbered! I looked over to Eric with pleading eyes but he knew better than to change the subject when five out of the seven females were interested in something. 

“We’re just friends…or at least just started to be friends”  
“What does that mean?” Mum asked in confusion now leaning her chin on one hand.  
“We had...” oh god how do I say this without giving too much away? “He got angry and he scared me, he has apologize and we’ve agreed to start again. So, I guess you can say we’ve just become friends”  
“Is that who you’ve been writing?”   
“Him and Charlie”  
“Charlie your roommate isn’t he? Why aren’t you interested in him?” Katie who sat next to Eric, her dad. She was a copy of her mother Charlotte who will be joining us a week from now as she’s always away working. She had bright ginger hair, perfect skin and the brightest purple eyes that were looking at her food while she spoke  
“You’ve said so many times how cute he is” Rebecca pointed out her lime green hair that was as bright as mine rolling in perfect curls down her back, her bright yellow eyes looking at me  
“Charlie is my best friend”  
“and best friends are a no go” Emily said straight away not bothering to wait for anyone else to speak “now back to this mysterious boy”  
“Why are we talking about boys?” Kara asked with a huff and a wrinkled nose, she didn’t like to talk about anything that had to do with romance.   
“Because I’m interested! We’re going to his school this year and I want to know what sort of boys there is!” Emily said with her own huff “is this boy handsome?”  
“Is he a boy at all” mum suddenly said which made everyone look at her before they looked at me and my face that was now blushing furiously.  
“Oh god” Kara muttered but she clicked her tongue “trust you to have a crush on a teacher you befriended”   
“Kara!” Mum snapped “what have I told you? Don’t question any love, the heart knows what it wants...I’ve always said to you all, follow your heart. Love is love, no age, sex or religion can change that. I’m sure if you smile that amazing smile of yours and show your brilliant personality and any man would fall for you, Luke”  
I had to roll my eyes at her before I filled my mouth with food, she didn’t know Hieronymous Grabiner.

“What does this boy look like?” Katie asked suddenly   
“Oooo! Does he have Normal hair colour like brown or unusual like blue?” Emily asked and I just gave up.  
“He has black hair and brown eyes, stupidly tall and stupidly smart and antisocial” I answered before glaring at all the six females with a glare that clearly told them to drop the matter. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore.  
Writing to Grabiner that night was terribly awkward, I just told all my family that I had a crush on him, what they all don’t know is that crush was really love. A love that I didn’t truly understand and a love that may not even be two-sided. There wasn’t much to write about, not until I saw his letter. Last time he wrote to me he said that he took a trip to Rome this year after not going for five years. He made a funny joke that Petunia would lookout for flying pigs because of it. That was before he told me that flying pigs were actually a thing in some magical kingdoms. Anyway, I asked him for some pictures and it seems that he accepted my request. I didn’t know if he knew how to use a camera what with being a wizard and all. However, it seemed that not only did he know how to use a camera but he knew how to use one with skill. He captured Rome’s most beautiful buildings with perfection. I liked them so much I ended up buying a frame from them and sending him a picture of it. my picture wasn’t as good as his but hey, it’s the thought that counts. 

That wasn’t the last time I sent him pictures as two weeks later, a dinosaur day was held in the village I live in so of course my family went. There were people dressed as dinosaurs, the costumes were actually realistic which of course scared poor Rosie. Me, Kara and Emily, however, loved it. We made sure to take as many pictures as possible. We took pictures of each other us being “eaten” by the dinosaurs, stroking the dinosaurs and in our cool looking dinosaur’s hats. I took a selfie with mum with ice creams in our hands. We also took an amazing family picture of all of us, even Charlotte (the mother of Katie and Violet) wasn’t missing as she was visiting for a month. Charlotte is away a lot on business, she’s more of a workaholic than a mother really. That’s not saying is isn’t a great mother because she is, she just doesn’t have that “mother instinct” as mum explains it. I laughed when I got his reply. It said he was glad that I had a good time but he was a little confused. He didn’t see me in any of the pictures. That made me laugh because I was totally in all the pictures. I knew at once he mistook me as one of my sisters, I didn’t take it to heart, it sometimes happens, even at home. I mostly get mistaken for Emily. 

However, when I looked at the pictures I sent him again, I noticed that my scar was on show. I didn’t have my fringe covering the bottom bit. Suddenly, it made sense. Of course, Grabiner wouldn’t recognize me if he didn’t know about my scar. Slowly, I wrote that I was the one with the scar and it felt like it took me an hour to do so. When I got his reply it was full of the politest apology I’ve ever seen. Grabiner said that he was a fool to assume that I wouldn’t be in the pictures. I just wrote that it was alright and no apology was needed, because I forced myself back into the closest for my first year of school not knowing if me being gay was accepted. He wrote stating what I already knew. Sexuality, whatever it may be, doesn’t matter in the magical world. I could like boys, girls and anything between if I wanted and no one would care.

We spent an entire month like that, writing to each other once a week while living our separate lives. I also wrote to my friends and sometimes I had to check their replies to remember what we were talking about. Writing to four different people was so difficult! Charlie proved that point by circling the time I accidentally called him India in bright red pen. With the sentence of:   
“We might be best friend siblings but please don’t mix us up, I’m the one with the blonde hair and glasses”. That only caused me to call him India in the next three letters to tease him. During the day, I spent mostly with my family but mostly with mum. She took me shopping for a school bag that I brought with my own money earned by working in Eric’s shop. I felt stupidly proud of buying that bag with my own money, mum could tell that too as she smiled brightly at me. The bag was a rucksack that was actually looked like a freaking baby dragon popping its front feet and head out of a basket. Ever since I was little I’ve loved dragons.   
I guess that’s why I ended up marrying one.  
I actually called the baby dragon H after my quick-tempered husband, though I didn’t tell him that when I sent him a picture of me and the bag. I totally told Charlie though, he was the only one (besides Petunia) who knew about my love for our strict teacher. However, a week went by without any reply from Grabiner. Straight away, I was worried. He was never more than a day late sending his letters. Maybe I said something wrong in my last letter? But that couldn’t be it. I sent him some of my doodles like he asked, he can’t possibly be angry at me for doing what he asked, surly! 

It was a huge relief when I saw a letter on my desk with his famous red dragon stamp on the top right-hand corner. Yeah...We have our own stamps now. I had a wolf and he had a dragon. I didn’t wait to open the letter, I was so happy he was still writing to me!   
My happiness soon left once I recognized that the writing wasn’t his:  
“Dear Luke,  
I’m so happy to find out that you and Hieronymous are keeping touch! However, I’m afraid the poor man has come down with a terrible flu. He is terribly sick and I’m afraid I cannot look after him like he needs. I’m awfully busy with organizing the new improvements this new year will bring. I’m afraid that I can only turn to you. Hieronymous does not have anyone else. Please come to the school as soon as you can!  
Petunia Potsdam”

I happily burnt the letter, I might have agreed to start again in September with Grabiner. However, that doesn't mean that I'm going to be forced to look after him. We agreed to not mention our marriage and me looking after him because it's my "duty" would definitely not do that. And yeah, okay, Petunia was right. I still kinda loved him or like my mum always says "my heart sings for him". But that doesn't mean that I'll happily leave my family to walk into a sick dragons den to be burnt alive.  
So what if I'm a wolf and loyal, everyone knows it's family before any love and I'll pick my family every time. 

However, it seemed that Petunia Potsdam was stubborn and manipulative. That was because, three days later after I sent her a very polite letter saying:  
"To Petunia,   
I'm sorry to hear that Hieronymous has court a fever. However, even though we both know that I think of him highly, I'm afraid that he doesn't feel the same. It will do him no good to see me while he is sick, weak and not looking his best. I think he'd appreciated it more if you kept looking after him.   
Plus, I am at home and would prefer to spend the rest of my holiday with my family.   
I hope that he will get well soon.  
Luke"

I walked into the living room after a bike ride with Kara and Emily, which turned into a private questioning time about Iris Academy. Just to see that mum was sat on the couch with Eric beside her with a letter in their hands. When the front door closed, both adults looked at me before giving the twins a pointed look. A pointed look at clearly said,: "leave the room" which they did. Once they were gone I stood awkwardly stood in front of them, wondering what I have done wrong. But then, mum lowered the letter onto the table and at once I recognized the logo that was sat on the right-hand corner on top of the page. It was Iris Academy's seal. A hexagon-shaped shield with six different images of all the six different house animals.   
That's when I knew that Petunia Potsdam was as stubborn as a horse that freezes on you when it sees a pack of wolves on Red Dead redemption two. She wouldn't accept my answer of a polite no.

Well, she doesn't know how stubborn I am. I'm as stubborn as a cow that doesn't want to be milked.  
"No" I said crossing my arms over my chest and standing straight. This was my typical stubborn stance.   
"What do you mean no?" Eric asked blinking in confusion   
"You already knew about this didn't you" mum growled an angry frown on her beautiful face.   
"I did"  
"Why didn't you tell me?!"  
"Because I knew that you'd freak out" I said not having a clue what reason Petunia gave them. I doubt it was the truth. I think mum would be even angrier at the fact that I had a husband that she hasn't met. The fact would make her angrier than the fact I was actually married would. She always said she would like to meet whoever her children fell in love with before marriage. 

"Of course, I'll freak! This is an opportunity for you to do extra credit work and your throwing it in the trash?!"   
Oh no...  
Why did the reason have to be extra credit work? That's the one thing mum is passionate about. She always wants us all to get high grades and do well at school. 

I might be a stubborn cow but mum was the stubborn farmer who would push me until I moved.  
"Why don't you want to go?"  
"Because I've been away from home for months and I want to spend time with my family. Aren't you always the one who says family first?"  
"You've been here for two months"  
"And I'm staying here for another two" I said stubbornly making mum frown even more. Her blue eyes glaring into mine.   
"I've got an idea that will solve this" Eric suddenly said making us both remember that he was there. 

We both watched him flip the letter on its blank side to write something down before he pushed it in front of me.   
All I saw was numbers.  
Numbers that made no sense to me.   
"If you can solve that, you don't need to do extra credit work" he said and in the corner of my eye, I saw mum smirking. She already knew that I had no idea what any of the numbers meant.   
Damn Eric for this!   
"That's settled it, then" mum said looking way too smug for my liking. "You’re going back to school and you will do that extra credit work" 

I guess framer mum won this battle of stubbornness with the help of her loyal Border Collie...

Four hours later, after I packed one large suitcase that classed with my hair thanks to it being bright yellow and saying goodbye to my six sisters. I was sat in Eric's eight-seater dark blue van outside Iris Academy's gates.   
Eric was already pulling my suitcase out of the trunk of the van while mum stood next to my open door.  
"I can't believe that you're making me do this" I muttered angrily.   
"Oh hush, extra credit work will be good on your CV" mum said making me wonder if you need a CV in the magical world. "Plus, the school will be quieter. Who knows, you might meet a cute boy"  
"Mum-" "-You said that you'd stay single for your first year of school and you stayed true to your word-" oh, how it would shock her to learn how false that was "-you said nothing about this year, Twin. What about that Gardiner?"  
"Grabiner, dear" Eric corrected suddenly appearing next to mum from god knows where before they both looked down to my face that was now blushing furiously.   
"Out of the picture" I said straight away even though my blush got worse before I went out of the car.

"Maybe this extra credit will show him how smart you are" mum said being way too happy about her son flirting with a teacher. However, she has always told me and my sisters that love is love, no matter what the age or gender. Well, okay, as long as the person we love wasn't over forty, she was good. Even she has limits.

"And the fact that you brought your yellow suitcase and not the blue one, tells me that you are finally going to show this school who you are" Mum smiled. I knew what she meant. And I knew that she knew that I brought my makeup with me this year. Because, like she said, now I know that the magical community accepts feminine boys like me, I can finally express who I am without fear.   
But damn, mum misses nothing.   
"I'm sure if you show him your stunning smile and kind heart, he won't be able to resist you"

Oh, he could and he no doubt will.  
"I think I would rather stay single" I muttered with a roll of my eyes before I pulled mum into a tight hug. "Can't you take me back home?"  
"You have been offered this opportunity for a reason, Twin. It will bring you bad luck to run from your destiny" mum said sounding like an old and wise witch as she gave me a loving squeeze. "I'll see you again when we drop off the twins. I love you"  
"And I love you" I said holding her tighter. 

This was all too soon.  
I wasn't ready to go back to school and I certainly wasn't ready to leave her. With that in mind, I looked over to Eric. Just like last year, we had a silent discussion with our eyes.  
I asked him to look after everyone while I was gone and he promised me he would. Unlike last year, I knew he would. 

I waved them goodbye until I could no longer see Eric's dark blue van. Once they were gone I turned to the golden gates of Iris Academy.  
Well, this is it.  
I'm back here again.   
Hopefully, this year won't be as hectic, but knowing my luck, it probably will. 

With a loud sigh, I slowly walked through the golden gates and down the concrete path that had Blossom Trees on either side. At this time of year, the trees were in full blood. The pink of their leaves almost blinding. On the ground, around the trunk of the trees was tall white Cow Parsley. I've never liked those flowers. I've always liked the tulips that were in the small garden in front of the school. In fact, I was in front of it now. Beautiful pink, purple, red, yellow and white tulips covered the small garden that was placed a few feet in front of the main doors of the school. They were joined by a single small tree, it was an oak tree, an oak tree that clearly isn't going to grow any bigger than it already was. To me, the tree looked sad because it was slightly tilted and it's leaves were always dark green. I named it Sad Simon. Why? I haven't got a clue. 

"Heaven's, you came at last!" Petunia's voice suddenly rang out which made me sigh loudly again. Why is she so shocked to see me? It was her cunning that forced me here. Slowly, I walked around to the opposite side of the small garden to stand in front of Petunia.  
"Yes, your plan worked like a treat" I muttered sarcastically.   
"If you keep frowning like that, your going to give yourself wrinkles sooner than you should, dear" Petunia said with her hands on her hips, sounding and looking awfully like mum. Suddenly, she clamped her hands which made me jump. "Now, we don't have time to waste! We must hurry, we've left our patient alone after all" and with that she took the handle of my suitcase off me and hurried off forward. She moved with a speed no woman of her age-whatever that may be-should manage. In fact, she was going so fast, I had to jog to catch up with her.

However, when I hurried through the main doors of the school, I froze in surprise. As there was no longer an empty room that only had two reasons of being there. One was to lead you to Petunia's office. The other to lead you to the main courtyard outside. Instead, there was a reception area. Straight away, it was clear to me that it would only be open on the first day of school. That didn't matter to me. All that mattered to me was the question of why it wasn't here last year. I mean, it would have helped so much! I didn't have a clue where I was going last year! Grabiner's directions didn't help me at all! If this was here, I wouldn't have gone into the wrong building and up to the third floor! However, my luck was kind to me that day as I met William Danson...

~~Flash back~~

I was utterly lost. I think I went through the wrong door. I'm sure that man said to go through the black door and not a brown one.   
"Whatever you do, don't panic, just go back where you came from. Yeah, let's do that" I thought to myself and with that, I turned around. However, before I could take a step forward, a boy walked out of the door that was in front of me. He was taller than me -which wasn't every hard thing to be, thanks to my small height of four foot- and clearly older too. He was wearing the same colour cloak as me, he had emerald green eyes and pale pure hair that was tied back in a ponytail.  
"Excuse me!" I loudly said hurrying to him while he turned around.   
"Ah, you must be another lost freshman" the boy said with a soft smile, his green eyes looking at my bright lime green hair. "Don't worry, I'll take you to Falc-wait, you're a wolf?" He said once his eyes moved down to my eyes before finally ending at my orange cloak.   
"Yes?" I answered in confusion "shouldn't I be?"  
"No, I mean, yes. I mean" the boy paused there to sigh loudly before he spoke again, much slower this time.  
"Usually, pretty boys like you end up in Falcon hall. Definitely, if they have just rare looks"  
"There is one in a thousand chance of a wolf pack having an Abano pup. Guess I'm that pup"  
"Guess you are little pup" the boy smiled before he held out his hand "my name is William Danson"  
"My name is Luke Manchester" I smiled  
"Well Luke, let me show you to our dorm"  
"Thanks"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess this year Freshmen don't have to worry about getting lost like I did.   
It's about time, to be honest.   
I quickly realized that I was stood there way too long because Petunia was nowhere to be seen. At that moment, I ran to the direction of the teacher's rooms, and believe it or not Petunia was walking up the staircase to the fourth floor when I finally court up to her. I followed her down the corridor to the last room on the left before she looked down to the golden lion handle on the door.  
"How is he?" She suddenly asked  
"The same as when you left him, mistress" the lion answered making me stare at the thing.  
So I didn't imagine it last time, that's good to know.   
The door clicked open at that moment and I followed Petunia inside the room. She dragged my suitcase into another room before walking back into the room I was stood in.   
"That" she whispered pointing towards the door she just walked out of "is Hieronymous's dressing room" at my confused blink, she clarified: "his walk-in wardrobe" 

Once she explained that she held my wrist and pulled me into a room that was on the right side, near the burning fireplace. Inside the room was, what I could only describe as a very posh bathroom. The bath rested golden lion feet, the toilet was the whitest toilet I've ever seen with a hold lid and handle, the sink was white as snow and had gold taps. Above the sink was a small mirror which had white cabinets next to it.   
The shower was one of those floor to ceiling ones with a see-through door.   
Knowing that I already figured out what this room was, Petunia dragged me back into the main living area where she finally let me have a good look around.

The doors into Grabiner's private rooms were at the top of the room. The first thing you saw when you walked through them was his stupidly big bed. A bed that was clearly a Queen sized bed that was way too big for one person. Next to his bed, on either side, was a small light brown wooden side cabinets that had two large draws each. However, now that I'm standing here, I just noticed the three large bookshelves. Bookshelves that told me more than their meant to. That's because the one closest to the entry door left just enough space for it to open. That told me that Grabiner lived alone for so long that he didn't have to worry about the door suddenly opening and making him jump and end up knocking down the books on the shelves. The very books that were only on the shelves by plain luck. Seriously, there were too many books on one shelve it's a miracle that the shelf hasn't snapped in two yet because of the heavy load. Slowly, I turned around; there was some sort of front room where the door to the dressing room was. A huge fireplace was burning gently, next to it was another two bookcases filled with books. On the left side of the room was what was clearly Grabiner’s work area, there was a dark red oak desk covered in pens and paper and would you believe, more books. However, I was shocked that there were only four large bookshelves inside the room, I expected more, a lot more actually. But then I noticed the large three seated couch in front of the fireplace behind an oak coffee table. It was set up like a bed. It had a bed pillow and bed quilt, the quilt pattern was of adorable orange foxes but then it hit me. I realized that Petunia not only wanted me to look after Grabiner when he was ill, but she also wanted me to stay with him twenty-four hours a day.   
She’s crazy.

“Oh no, I’m not staying over!” I whispered angrily putting my hands on my hips with a frown   
“It would be for the best, all the students that are staying over for the holiday are down in Snake hall because the other halls are being renovated. It would take you far too long to get up here to look after Hieronymous”  
“It’d take me like four minutes to come up here from Snake Hall” I said which could be true if I hurried. Snake hall might be on the ground floor but it saves me going down all those four sets of stairs from Wolf Hall just to go up back another four pair of stairs to the professor room halls. Basically, there was no need for me to stay here, at all. However, I then realized where she was, she was stood beside Grabiner’s bed with her right hand over his head looking at a watch on her left wrist. I slowly walked beside her to finally have a look at our patient and he looked terrible. There was no other way to describe him. His skin was pale with his cheeks red as strawberries. He was truly sick and he truly needed twenty-four hours of supervision. His condition could worsen at any time.   
“Why is he so sick?” I asked in a soft whisper.

“Hieronymous has always gotten sick easily, the silly man overworks himself, however, this time that is not the cause. I’m afraid while he traveled back home from Rome he court a bug from another traveler on the plane”  
“A plane? Couldn’t he just teleport to Rome?”  
“Oh no, duckling! Even a powerful and skilled wizard like Hieronymous couldn’t possibly be able to teleport that far! Plus, there is no teleportation network from America to Rome”  
“Oh...”  
“Have you taken care of the sick before?”  
“I’ve looked after my sisters and mum when they became ill” I honestly said before I noticed that Petunia wasn’t listening to a word I was saying, instead she just stood there smiling softly at me. “What?”  
“Just admiring your beauty, Hieronymous will no doubt admire it too now that you show both of your eyes. After all, he may or may not have mentioned how he desires them” Petunia said before she changed the subject. “Now, Hieronymous has a cat called Athena-oh, speak of the devil” Petunia said and at that moment I watched a gorgeous cream, bright sky blue eyed Ragdoll jump beside Grabiner. Athena was cream all over but it had golden shocks on her legs, and a golden patch on the base of her tail.   
“Her cat flap is always open, she just lays on his outside porch and relaxes. Her scratch post is in the corner, her toys are in the box, you have to put her toys away just like Hieronymous does. Like I explained, he is neat and likes everything to be organized. You already know what china he prefers so I won’t bother with that. The food he likes to eat when he is ill is soup, toast, egg, chicken, lamb, pies and pasta. Do not say anything about his appearance, Hieronymous is a little self-conscious. You can use his washing basket in the bathroom for your dirty clothes and of course, you can use his bathroom...Okay, that should be everything...Oh, it’s time to change his towel on his head, do you want me to show you want to do?”

“No, I’ll be fine”  
“Okay, the bowl you can use to fill with warm water is on the bathroom sink and the blankets are in the cupboard behind the door, oh, and Luke, remove any hair away from his eyes, I would hate him to wake up with hair in his eyes. He was in a terrible mood the last time it happened”  
“Okay”  
“Oh, and if you want to read any of his books then be extremely careful with them and place them in the exact place where they were and don’t use his desk, if you open the porch doors leave them ajar, when you finish using the bath or shower make sure to clean any hairs away from the plug. Oh, Hieronymous likes the toilet seat down, he says it makes his bathroom look tidier” Potsdam explained still smiling widely but I blinked. How many rules are there?! 

“Okay” I said with a firm nod, hoping I could remember all these rules  
“Alright, be patient, don’t let Hieronymous get to you, he will no doubt try and chase you away but don’t let him. He isn’t used to people looking after him when he’s ill but he has to learn that he isn’t alone anymore. We want him to be well enough for the new students and for his birthday, after all”  
“Which is?”  
“Hmm? Oh, his birthday? It’s on the September 3rd, he’s turning thirty-two this year” Potsdam explained and I gulped at that. We’re fifteen years apart and he is only a year younger than mum! Potsdam must have seen the uncertainty on my face as she placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Age is just a number, dear, in the magical world it doesn’t matter” and with that, she walked out of the room. At the moment I sounded a big sigh, I guess this is it, I’m going to spend the two months looking after Grabiner.   
I guess things could be worse....

*Meow”  
I looked down to Athena to see that she was staring right at me with her light blue eyes.   
“What?” I whispered and I was shocked when Athena meowed at me again so I slowly patted her head and she arched into my touch. With a soft smile, I started to stroke Athena   
“Hi, I’m Luke” I whispered “I’m going to look after your daddy”   
Hopefully, he won’t be angry about it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added Athena because I felt Grabby needed the company and she's adorable.


	6. A friendship builds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke's powerful magic seems to be finally awake and something has to be done about that!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also we finally find out why this is called The Wolf and Dragon! ^_^

Sleeping on a couch is unbelievably uncomfortable, not only did I wake up with a painful back but I also fell off the damn thing about three times. In the end, I moved to the comfortable chair that was sat beside Grabiner’s bed to curl up in a small ball and sleep there. In the morning, I woke up with Athena curled beside me before she looked up at me and meowed. Right, she’ll want her breakfast. Slowly, I made her breakfast before placing a gentle hand on Grabiner’s head. He was sweating and hot to touch and his body was slightly shaking, whatever fever he has it’s a serious one. With that in mind, I got a small towel and a warm bowl of water to gently press on his head and make sure his covers were on top of him.

*Meow*

I looked over to Athena who was sat on the chair I slept on, watching me like a hawk. “He’s alright” I gently said to her even though I knew she couldn’t understand what I was saying but then I walked to her and pick her up. “Why don’t I figure out how to bath you?” I whispered before giving her a gentle squeeze making her purr loudly, huh, I guess she likes cuddles. I gave her another squeeze because of it before I placed her in the bathtub. “Right....Where is your shampoo?” I muttered

*Meow*

I looked at Athena and I couldn’t believe my eyes, she was looking at the right cabinet beside the mirror. Slowly, I opened the door just to see cat shampoo.

First, a doorknob could understand me and now a cat. The wonders of Iris Academy,

Bathing Athena was easy, she loved every second of it which made me happy because I didn’t end up getting scratched. The cats we used to have on the farm would have clawed me like a scratching post if I even attempted to bath them. Once I washed Athena and cleaned the bath, I checked on Grabiner but nothing changed. I decide to read one of his many books to past the time until there was a pop in the room. I lowered the book just to see that there were two bowls of soup sat on the coffee table. At that moment, I looked over to Grabiner who was still asleep. It was clearly time for him to wake up but I didn’t want to wake him. However, I knew I didn’t have a choice, if he doesn’t eat now then the soup would get cold and I have no idea how to do a warming spell without setting anything on fire.

Luck was on my side though as Grabiner’s eyes slowly fluttered open before he looked over to the chair I was sat on. For a couple of seconds, we just looked at each other. I looked at him awkwardly while he looked at me like if he was wondering if I was real or not. “Is my mind finally getting the grips of imagination or are you real?” “I’m real”

“Petunia dragged you away from home did she?” Grabiner asked bitterly but for once, his bitterness wasn’t aimed at me. “Used the excuse of extra credit, I swear, if I didn’t know any better I would say she knew that would make my mum bring me here” I said in a low whisper as I picked up one of the trays with soap and walked back to the side of his bed while Grabiner struggled to prop himself up. I knew better to help him and by his glare, he didn’t want me helping him anyway.

“I’m sorry” Grabiner said in a low voice and with a pained expression

“It’s not your fault” I said as I lowered the tray on his lap “it’s not like you suddenly decided to get sick” “You shouldn’t be here, you should be at home with your family” “I know...But here I am and I guess we just have to deal with it” I said with a shrug “now, eat up, it’ll make you feel better” “Yes, mother” Grabiner muttered under his breath but I totally heard it and snorted at his words before I sat on the two-seater couch to eat my soup...

The days after that were filled of a similar routine. Grabiner spent most of the days asleep only waking up to stumble into the bathroom to relieve himself (forgetting to close the door while doing so) and to eat. Now and again he would spend an hour or two reading with me sat on the chair next to his bed, reading myself. While he was asleep I usually read, drew, relaxed in front of the fire or in the bath or enjoyed being sat in the sun on Grabiner’s little veranda. His veranda wasn’t anything special, it was small and had wooden flooring. However, it did have a lovely small plant box that was filled with poppies and daisies that smelt wonderful. I often spent my time out there reading or drawing and even relaxing. However, most of the time I spent my time making sure my patient was still alive which annoyed him to no end. I knew I was mother hening him like I do with my family but it’s a habit I can’t help! I even sang him the lullaby of “Constant as the stars above” from a Barbie film, true, I never actually realized I did it until he pointed it out every time. 

However, soon enough I got bored and restless and funny enough it was Grabiner who noticed it first “Goodness sake” he said with a sigh lowering the book he was reading down on his lap “why are you pacing like a caged animal? If you are bored find something to do” “Like what?” I huffed in annoyance “I’ve given Athena her bath, you don’t need medicine anymore and reading is starting to hurt my eyes” “You explained to me that you enjoy cooking, why don’t you do that?”

“I...I can do that?” I asked stopping my pacing

“I see that Petunia didn’t have the curtsey to tell you this, but yes, students are allowed to cook” “Oh my god! No way! What would you like? Ooo! Never mind, you gotta try my homemade strew, it is just the best!” and with that, I hurried into the dressing room to remove the white nighty that I always wear. It was plain white with cotton sleeves, it was awfully feminine and very filly, it was to my knees but it fills out whenever I spin to fast. Not that it mattered, I won’t be dancing in the thing like I do at home, not in front of Grabiner anyway. I quickly dressed in some simple jeans and a purple jumper before I hurried back into the main room “You’ll be alright for like an hour, won’t you? You won’t do anything stupid like over-work yourself or lock me out right?” “No matter how tempting the former is, I assure that I will not do it. I will not throw your kindness in your face” Grabiner said.

“I hope not, my mum always says that if you're nice to someone then that kindness is shared back to you everyday” I said with a bright smile, I feel happy whenever I talk about mum.

“She sounds like a wise woman” “Oh she is, you’d like her I’m sure, though you might get us confused. I’m her twin you see, well that what she calls me...Anyway, I’m blabbering, I’m going to cook us a fantastic meal!” and with that, I skipped down to the kitchens that were located down in the basement which was apparently above the dudgeons we go into for exams.

An hour later, I returned to Grabiner’s room to see that the two stew meals were sat on the coffee table and Grabiner himself was sat on the two-seater couch. He was still dressed in loose white pyjama trousers and a shirt with his hair still terribly bedridden. He placed his bowl of stew on his lap while I sat in front of the coffee table and the fireplace (which was thankfully off) crossed legged.

“Unlike popular belief, I don’t bite” Grabiner said an angry frown already on his face “Oh no, I’m not trying to be rude, sir. I’m just a messy eater and I’m never allowed to eat on the couches at home because of it. Mum says she prefers me to spill on a table than on the furniture, you see” I explained with a smile before I glanced at the family picture I placed on the top corner of the coffee table when I got homesick. The frame was one of those where you could fit two pictures in it. One was a family picture with Dad before he got sick and the other one was a recent one with Eric and his daughters, the new family.

“I hope you don’t mind but I had a glimpse of your photo’s, I got curious after you said you were a twin of your mother. You were not joking” “Nope” I laughed before taking a spoon full of stew

“May I ask what happened to your father?” Grabiner asked but that made me swallow my food way to quick and cough like an idiot, but of course, he’d ask that! There are two totally different men in the family pictures after all! “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ha-” “no, it’s fine” I coughed before taking a sip of my orange juice. “My dad left” I said which was kinda true when you think of it a certain way “but then mum meant Eric, my stepdad. He’s great, not like my dad wasn’t but...They always say there’s a storm before a rainbow, or that might be just my mum” “Was there a rainbow after our...Arrangement?”

“Not yet, but here’s hoping” I smiled “anyway, enough of that! How was your trip? What did you do? What did you read and learn? You have to tell me everything!” and he did. He told me everything and it was wonderful. Talking to him was truly wonderful. I felt like his friend and I was happy with that, I wouldn’t replace this feeling of belonging for anything. Well, maybe for a little bit of romance but that’ll be wishful thinking...

Two days later, Grabiner was sat on the three-seater couch in front of the gentle burning fire, he was sat there because he’s learned that I prefer to sleep on the comfortable chair like a cat. I meanwhile, was stood in front of his bookshelves next to his fireplace looking at his many, many books.

“Are all these originals?” “Yes” “Geeze, I bet that broke the bank” I muttered looking at all the book spines, some of them were tattered, some of them were clearly cared for while others were falling apart.

“Being the only son of a Lord has its uses” Grabiner said but that made me freeze before I slowly turn to face him “A what?” I asked in total surprise “You did see his letter” Grabiner said with his small smile, the small smile he always gives me now. It makes my heart flutter. However, I had to think for a second to actually remember which letter he was talking about before I remember. His father’s letter...What did it say again? “He’s the 16th of something, right?” “16th Viscount Montague”

“Which means?” I asked while I slowly sat next to him with my hands on my lap. “He is a lord among the twelve circle of government, he deals with magical crimes within the no-magic world making sure magic cannot be remembered and magical crime is at a low. But, he has connections with the Circle of Twelve. Most of which run the highest orders for the Outabeoneian Kingdom” “The Outabeoneian Kingdom?” “The most powerful elf kingdom in the Otherworld. It houses The Mother Tree” “What’s that?” I asked

“The Mother Tree is the source of all magic” Grabiner answered but that made me frown in confusion

“How can a tree be a source of magic?” “You will learn that in class this year” Grabiner said but that made me frown some more and made me wonder if there were any books in the school’s library about all of this “There are no books which you can learn from” Grabiner said like if he just read my thoughts. “So...Your father deals with magical law? Has that always been a thing in your family?” I asked

“The 17th in my father name suggests how many generations of Grabiner’s has been in his line of work” “Oh, so you’d be the 18th then?” “I would be if I took his seat, yes”

“Oh...So would you? Take his seat I mean” “I’m afraid I don’t have a choice, I do not want to disgrace my family name by refusing my father’s seat nor do I want work of generations be for nothing” Grabiner said “the man is desperate for me to marry and take over his seat but I will not until I truly have to. He’ll probably be on his death bed when I do so” “So that’s why he was so excited when he wrote to me...I mean, your so-called wife. He wants you to marry and have kids” “Yes, but I’ve never have done what that man wanted” Grabiner said before he looked at me “don’t repeat that” “What? That strict professor Grabiner breaks his father’s rules? I would never” I teased making Grabiner’s mouth twitch at the corner like it wanted to widen in a brighter and bigger smile...

\-------------------------

“What a wonderful day!” I said loudly while I threw open the curtains that covered Grabiner’s veranda doors just to enjoy how the sunlight hit my skin, warming me up. The only answer I got was a grunt. “Why don’t we go out today? Some fresh air will do you some good! Hey, why don’t I make us a picnic?” I asked turning to face him with a smile “come on, if I stay here any longer I’ll go crazy and I’ll even let you bring a book” “How generous of you” Grabiner muttered sarcastically flicking to a new page of the book he was reading “So can we?” I asked “Let the kitchen staff make the food, allow yourself a day off” “Now who’s being generous” I teased “but that’s a yes?” “That’s a yes” “Awesome! Dibs on the bathroom!” I said happily with an energetic jump before I ran into the dressing room and to my large bright yellow suitcase to start digging inside of it. Now, where are they? I’m sure I packed them!

“Haha, you beauty’s!” I yelled in happiness after I finally found my makeup and outfit for today before I quickly placed everything back in my suitcase before running into the bathroom. I took all my clothes off for a quick shower before I got changed for the day. I put on some cream sandals and a very pretty light pale pink dress that I may or may not have stole from Emily (I totally stole it). The top half of the dress was pink with a light blue design while the dress was pure pink. I wrapped a simple white ribbon around my waist while I stuck a hairpin shaped like a lily in my hair. My make up was light. Lipstick to make my lips shine, light pink eye shadow to match my dress. After making sure my fringe covered the top half of my scar, I walked out into the main living space. Grabiner was already there dressed in a light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black trousers with some rather fancy black shoes. His hair was finally brushed and hung loosely around his face. Dressed like this he truly looked like a healthy and handsome man.

When Grabiner looked at me, he made me blush terribly. It might have been my imagination or wishful thinking but I swear, he looked at me like if I was the most beautiful person he’s ever seen. I decided to push that thought to the back of my head and smile at him, it was my friendly smile. The smile I always give Charlie. After all, we are friends

“Let’s go” I smiled with another energetic jump

“Yes, please do, I’m starting to worry that you’ll start jumping off the walls if we do not” Grabiner said with a roll of his eyes before he opened the door for me.

“Oh, haha” I sarcastically said.

We sat under a tree together, Grabiner leant on the tree trunk in the shade while I laid on my back on the grass in the sun, just enjoying its warmth.

“I wish there was a beach, it’ll be amazing to dip my toes in some water right now” I softly said

“There is one”

“Wait, what?!” I said as I suddenly sat up to turn to him “There’s BEACH?!”

“That is what I said” Grabiner said with a sniff turning to a new page in the book he was reading

“And you're telling me this now?!” “Freshmen aren’t permitted to go, Sophomore’s, however, are a different manner” “You have to show me” I smiled but that made him lower his book and look at me seriously

“If I stepped one foot on that beach, it will be like a bunch of lions disturbing a bunch of vultures" Grabiner muttered while I rolled onto my stomach leaning my chin on my hands and swinging my legs in the air.   


"Nevermind, the sun is great here anyway" I said with a soft smile "you don't have a chessboard, do you?" "You play chess?" Grabiner asked lifting his right eyebrow clearly surprised. "Yeah, I might be young but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy what is commonly known as an old man's game. My dad tort me how to play and I'm great at it. So do you have one? Can we play a game together?" "I don't think that will be truly fair" "What do you mean?" I asked curiosity "When I was your age I was a chess champion of my school" "Which school did you go to? Was it Hogwarts?" I asked with a playful smile which got wider when I saw how Grabiner dramatically rolled his eyes at my terrible reference. "I'm afraid that, that school is fictional. Saint Howard's, however, is not." "What hall were you in? Did that school even have halls?" "That it did, however, not as many as Irsh" Grabiner answered and after waiting for three whole seconds for him to answer my question. I playful poked him in the side which made him glare at me. "You didn't answer my other question" "You'll only laugh"

"No I won't" I promised before I poked him in the side again "Will you stop that?!" He snapped snaking my hand away from his side "Tell me" "I was in Rabbit Hall" Grabiner said with a huff which made me look at him with wide eyes. "Rabbit Hall?" "The hall for those with quick and clever minds" "Makes sense...What other halls were there?" "Fox Hall for those who were cunning and curious. Doe hall for those who had grace and beauty and finally, Pigeon hall for those who looked for adventure" "At least you weren't a Pigeon" I laughed with a snort "what colour was your Hall?" "Red" "And the others?" "Light purple, grey, yellow and pale blue" "Did you have any friends?" I asked "I preferred my own company and that hasn't changed much" Grabiner answer. However, I could see that he wasn't telling me the truth. His eyes darkened and shined in sadness. Whoever it was he knew, they were clearly not in this world anymore. Knowing not to push, I changed the subject. "So, how are you feeling?" "I'm not dead" Grabiner muttered with a roll of his eyes, clearly annoyed by my question before his eyes lowered to the book that was open in his hands. I knew that was his polite way of telling me to stop talking to him. With that in mind, I rolled onto my back again and enjoyed the sun. I enjoyed the sun for a whole twenty minutes before I opened my eyes. "I just had an idea" I said "Whatever it is, delete it from your mind" Grabiner's voice muttered but I rolled onto my stomach to poke him playfully in the side again. "I think you will like it" "Why? Does it involve you leaving me in peace while I’m trying to read?" "Oh, don't get all moody on me" I said with a click of my tongue and I got a glare because of it. "I just thought maybe we could make our chess game interesting" "I don't remember ever agreeing to play a game with you" "Maybe you'll say yes if you listened to me" I said in annoyance which shut him up. "I thought we could bet" "I do not have the wish to bankrupt you" "Not with money, you idiot. With food" "Excuse me?" "If I lose I cook and if you lose you cook" "That is idiotic" Grabiner muttered "Why is it?" "Because if I cooked, I will burn this damned school to the ground" "Wait, what? Are you saying that you don't know how to cook?" "There is a genius in you after all" Grabiner muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Okay, if you lose you will have to let me teach you" "No" "Why?" "Cooking is a waste of time" "Not if you’re hungry it isn't" "If I'm hungry I'll order food from the kitchens" "What if you were banned from using the kitchens?" "I hate to inform you that you don't have the power to do that" Grabiner said with a smug smirk clearly thinking he won the argument. However, I gave a smug smile back "But I know someone who does" "You wouldn't" "Oh I would. Imagine how pleased Petunia will be if she learned how I wanted to spend more time with my beloved husband. How I wanted to share my passion with him, to get to know him a little more" "Whatever you do, don't get that woman involved. She drives me almost to madness as it is" "Do we have a deal, then?" I asked with a wicked smile. "That we do not" Grabiner stubbornly said and before I could open my mouth to say anything he lifted his left hand up. "After all" he paused there to smirk nasty "we haven't discussed your punishment for losing the game" "Teaching you how to survive on your own is punishment?" I asked with a raised eyebrow "Don't be so sarcastic, it doesn't suit you" That made me roll my eyes at him. "If I win, you will have to come to the dungeon with me to learn how to control your powerful magic" "I've already got control of my magic" I said with a frown "Really? Then I do believe that I have a ghost in my rooms. After all, it was you who smashed a cup when I refused to take my medication, was it not?" "That was an accident" "An accident that could destroy your way of life outside the school. If you accidentally do magic at your home then you will be removed from it" Grabiner said which shut me up. I guess he's got a point. "You helping me to control my magic doesn't seem like a punishment" "Neither does spending time with you learning how to cook" Grabiner muttered under his breath but I totally heard it. And it made me smile widely at him. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me" I teased "Don't get used to it" That made me laugh. Our first game of chess was the next day. Grabiner set up the board on the little round table that was behind the three-seater couch. Once it was ready we sat opposite each other. "I have another deal to add, if you're interested," he said once he sat down. "Oh?" "Whoever wins gets to sleep in the bed until the next game" "Oh, you don't have to do that, I-" "you can't possibly keep sleeping on a leather chair like a cat. It'll do your back no good" "Same could be said about you sleeping on the most uncomfortable couch in the world" I said glimpsing at the three-seater couch beside us with a twitch. "Three nights on it will do me no harm" Grabiner said before he smirked "after all, this is only if you're able to win the game" "Oh, I can't wait to remove that smug smile off your face" "Neither can I" he laughed Two hours later, Grabiner was sat in front of me leaning on his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a very smug smirk on his face. Meanwhile, I had a splitting headache, he was so much cleverer than the old men I play against in the park near home. He was cunning and let you think you’re winning until he does a move that shows you how much you're actually losing. During our game, Petunia entered the room to see how things were going. Once she realized what was going on she ordered everyone a drink and pulled up a chair to watch. Even now she sat crossed legged between Grabiner and I with her chin leaning on a hand. Her expression was blank but in her eyes, I could see the wheels in her mind turning. She knew the same as I did. That I was one wrong move from losing the game. Grabiner knew that too, of course, that's why he's already gloating. I hate when people gloat With a smug smile of my own I moved my pawn to take out one of his horsemen. "You make the same mistake as those who are learning" Grabiner said before he picked up his knight "you lose track of what your rival is planning" and with that, he placed the knight on the board before saying "checkmate". With a loud groan, I lowered my head into my hands. "That was a splendid game, boys. You both played wonderfully. But Hieronymous, you pulled the rug right under Luke's feet" Petunia cheerfully said, clamping her hands once while doing so. "You know me, Petunia, I do overly enjoy outsmarting our students" Grabiner said and when I looked up I saw his smug smirk, oh how I wanted to punch that smirk off his face! “Now excuse me Petunia. I have a lesson to plan” and with that, he stood up to walk towards one of the bookshelves. “A lesson to plan?” Petunia asked in confusion looking at me now.

“I agreed to let me teach me how to control my magic if he wins at chess” “What a wonderful idea! And what do you get when you win?” “He won’t win” “WHEN, I win” I said stubbornly glaring at Grabiner’s back “I’ll be teaching my stubborn husband how to cook” “Goodness! If you manage that, pigs will truly sprout wings!” Petunia laughed standing up “I wish the best of luck to you, Luke. You will surely need it if you ever get that man cooking without burning this entire school down!” and with that, she left the room laughing.

“Why do I have the feeling that making that deal with you was a terrible idea” I muttered while Grabiner was walking towards me.

“Because it was” he said still smirking smugly “read this, it shall prepare you for tomorrow” “Yes sir” I said with a sigh before I opened the book and started to read...

The next day, I found myself down in the dungeons with Professor Grabiner for the third time in my life. Thankfully, I wasn’t dressed in a hideous school uniform or a second-hand wedding dress. Instead, I was dressed in a loose blue jumper and jeans. Grabiner meanwhile was dressed in his teaching robes, clearly telling me that this was nothing more than another lesson. “Today, I want you to close your eyes and focus on magic. I want you to tell me what colour magic I’m using and to keep on your toes in case I decide to cast a dangerous spell. Do you understand?” “Yes sir” “Let nothing distract you” he said with a frown “now close your eyes”

I closed my eyes and Grabiner started to cast spell after spell. Red Magic was like a harsh whip within the air, White Magic made the air feel smooth and made my body relax, Green made me feel a little dizzy, black felt like I had a wall pressed against my face while blue...Blue was clearly what Grabiner was most skilled in. I could feel how powerful he is, how his magic warmed the air with strength and control. After a few correct answers Grabiner started to walk around the room asking me what colour of magic he was using. Each time I got it correct, each time I stayed on my toes, that was until:

"How about now?" Grabiner asked behind me. He was stood so close to me, so close that his chest pressed against my back. I could smell his mint shampoo and smell his masculine aftershave. Both of which, hit my nose and it was like smelling the tastiest meal in the world. He smelt wonderful. "What magic am I using?" Grabiner purred down my ear, in a smooth and perfect seductive tone, that was like melted butter. I couldn't stop the blush that appeared on my face or the slight shudder my body made. "Luke" Grabiner said in a tone as soft as a feather and as smooth as honey. He clearly had no idea what he was doing to me or how he was making me feel aroused for the first time in my life. I've always had a thing for his voice. His smooth, dark voice with its lovely British accent. But now, it’s like I've been dumped into a blanket of features all of which are tickling my body in all the right places. Even though he didn't tell me to, I opened my eyes and looked at him. When my eyes met his, I remembered how truly stunning his eyes were. Dark brown like perfectly melted chocolate, chocolate I would happily drown in. Even when I'm allergic to it.  


But then, like a tonne of bricks suddenly fell on top of me, I remembered what he told me at the beginning of this. He told me to keep my wits and to let nothing distract me. It was then I realized that this was some of test. Grabiner wanted to know if I could keep focus while someone was trying to distract me. I mean vampires and Devils will use flirtation as a way to trick me. To make me forget that they could be a danger to me. And that is was what Grabiner was doing. Well, two can play that game. Pulling the sweetest smile I could manage, I rolled my left shoulder and allowed the loose sleeve of my jumper roll down my arm so my collar bone was now on show. At once, I saw Grabiner raise his eyebrow while a small blush appeared on his face. I quickly changed my smile to a flirtatious one. "I don't know, sir" I purred in a low voice fluttering my eyelids. It had the effect I wanted, Grabiner was looking at my eyes now, forgetting to stay focus himself. "But I do know something" I said shifting closer to him. "Distraction, can be dangerous" and at that moment I pushed him away from me while my magic sparked on its own, canceling his spell. Grabiner stumbled backward, at first he was stuttering in shock before he straighten his back. I sank into myself waiting for him to scream at me for playing him but all he said was: "Good, you realized what I was trying to do and stopped me. However, flirting back in hopes to fool your rival doesn't always work. In those situations don't always rely on your beauty, instead rely on your knowledge and skills. Saying that however, did you purposely want to break my spell?" "Um...No, it just happened" "So, you don't do accidental magic just when you're angry. But you also do it when you need to protect yourself...Interesting" "So, my magic doesn't run on my emotions?" "Needing to protect yourself is an emotion" Grabiner pointed out. "Oh" I stupidity said "How far did you read in that book last night?" He suddenly asked "Oh um...I got to the part about meditation" "Meditation in hopes to reach your magical core. Good, let's see if you can do that" Grabiner said before pointing to the ground "sit" Pulling my sleeve back onto my shoulder, I sat on the floor wondering if I could do this. I've never sat still for more than five minutes in my life. Not because I had too much energy but because I'm always doing something. On the farm, I looked after the animals all day and when dad was taken away I was up on my feet looking after the family. Even now, I busy myself with helping Eric in his café or helping mum cook. If I'm sat down for too long I feel like I'm wasting time, that I could do something that would help someone else. I decided to sit cross-legged leaning back on my arms. "No" Grabiner said "hands out in front of you, palms against the ground and legs out" Slowly, I moved like he said. "Close your eyes" I did "clear your mind, think of nothing, feel nothing" that was a lot more difficult to do. "Once your mind is blank, you have to relax your body" I did "Good, now. This will be more difficult. I need you to focus, focus on the blank space around you. I want you to channel your inner self. To do this, you must understand who you are and what magic you possess" Yeah, that didn't sound confusing. "Stop thinking" Grabiner said so I cleared my mind again and thought of nothing. But thinking nothing is still thinking. So I changed tactics. I thought about myself. I thought of what I enjoy, about the things that made me happy but most of all I thought about my family. And soon enough, I was smiling like an idiot, feeling like if I was in the sun's gentle glow. The floor beneath my hands turned from ice cold to warm. The room was so perfectly still and quiet. Soon, I felt like if the warmth of the ground was traveling up my arms. The warmth brushed over my shoulders like if they were the gentle fingertips of a lover. Until finally, the warmth was on my face. I twitched my fingers on the ground, they felt like if they were tangled in spider webs. Spider webs that I could now see behind my closed eyelids. They were thousands of them. All of which spreading this way and that, like a never-ending maze. All of them gleaming a blinding gold. Slowly, I moved my mind forward, like if I was now a Ninja squeezing through dozens of laser beams. It was truly magical. I was now inside some type of other world in my mind. A world full of magic. Magic I could clearly feel. Suddenly, in the never-ending sea of golden lines, there was a red one. It was as red as fresh blood or a freshly picked tomato. As I got closer to it, I felt calm. Something about this single line warmed me. It was awfully familiar too. I felt like I knew it. Slowly, I pressed a finger on it and it hummed in response. I felt like it was some sort of welcoming. Slowly, I curled my hand around the red strand. Once my hand closed around it, I was hit by a mighty wind. It was like I was in the middle of a horrible storm, the sting of the wind making my eyes water. However, the wind was gone as quick as it came and now I found myself somewhere new. Instead of seeing the never-ending golden spider-webs, I was now facing a grey brick wall. I looked up just to see the wall never ended, up and up it went until I couldn't see it anymore. I honestly had no idea where I was now or what was happening. I didn't have any clue how to get back into my own body either. "Calm down" Grabiner's voice suddenly said which literally made me jump three feet before turning around. For someone who somehow followed me here (wherever here was) he looked awfully calm. "Where are we?" I asked before looking at the tall grey wall in front of me "why is there a wall here?" "This is my magical core" Grabiner said but that made me look at him again. "What?" "You have somehow entered my magical core and not your own. Lucky for you, I have walls that protect us both from harm" "Wait, what? How can I enter your core? Shouldn't that be impossible or something?" "Not impossible but rare in magical humans. Usually, when one seeks out their core they journey down a blank road, until they see the colour of their soul. However, it seems that you were able to somehow pick up my core too within your journey. That is not impossible. It only means that you stupidly have strong feelings for me" Grabiner said but that somehow made me both blush and my heart sink. "But...There was more than your core in my...What did you call it? Journey to my core? I saw loads of...Well, lines, they were like spider-webs. All of them gold, all of them except yours" "Impossible" "I'm not lying!" I shouted my voice echoing in the blank space around us. "Please do try and not shout. You are inside of my magical core which means you are inside of me" Yeah, my teenaged mind went straight to the dirty meaning of that. I'm so glad Grabiner couldn't see my face, he'll no doubt figure out what I was thinking by the terrible blush on my face. "Take your mind out of the gutter" he angrily said giving me his icy glare. Oh right, he can see me. "I'm telling the truth" I muttered "surely there's a way I can prove that" "There is but I doubt that you will be willing to do it" "Why's that?" "Because I would have to read your mind. While your words may lie, your mind cannot" "Let's do it" I said "Very well" Grabiner said before I was hit by the huge force of the same wind as before. Everything went blank for a few seconds and when I opened my eyes, I was laid on my back, back inside of my body and in the dungeon of Irsh Academy. When I slowly sat up, the only thing that changed was the fact that Grabiner was now sat in front of me, cross-legged. I couldn't read his expression. "What colour was my magical core?" "Red" I answered confused, didn't I already tell him that? "What did you see before me?" "A grey wall and a huge spider-web’s made out of gold. But not in that order" "So, you remember everything" Grabiner said before he snapped his fingers of his right hand and before I knew it, he had his wand in his hand. “Only think about what you saw before you entered my magical core. Do not think of anything else, because if you do I will see it. Do you understand?” “Yes sir” I said “Close your eyes, remember what you saw” Grabiner firmly said and I did just that. at first, I felt nothing that was until I felt the familiar smooth and gentle feeling of White Magic within the air. But then, I felt like if there were bugs in my skull, their tiny legs crawling on top of my brain. It was awful! Thankfully, the feeling stopped and I was told I could open my eyes again, when I did I saw that Grabiner was looking at me with wide eyes and stuttering in shock. “You were telling the truth” “See” I huffed angrily crossing my arms over my chest but then I unfolded them “Isn’t that normal?”

“No...No one with your lack of skills should ever see that many magical cores” “I only saw yours” “No, you only recognized mine, all of those gold cords you saw were other magical cores” “You mean....I could have entered someone else’s core? How is that possible?” I asked in confusion.

“Let me show you” Grabiner suddenly said before he got chalk from god knows where to go on his knees and began to draw. He moved like a madman, quickly drawing a huge diagram on the floor.

“As you know there are two worlds within this dimension, the mundane world which we live in and The Otherworld. Both of which are two different sides of a coin and like a coin those two sides are connected with a side. That side is known as The Pandora Dimension, it is like an empty space, filled with nothing, nothing but pure magic. Magic that is stored within the two sides of the coin by The Mother Tree. Nothing can live there, but it is still so dangerous as one can go there in spirit to find ones magical core. A core that is given by The Mother Tree. When we die, our core will shine in The Pandora Dimension as a grey strand until a new soul is born and it starts anew...Usually, when a magical soul seeks E’s soul E will follow one plan path leading them straight to it. However, with you...You’re somehow able to see more than your own core, you can see all of the human cores that are in the same building as you. That is only done by wizards like me who have years of experience or...” Grabiner paused there now finished with his drawing.

“Or?” I pushed

“A sage or a seer” Grabiner said looking at me now which sent me gaping at him like a fish. “You won’t be the first sage or seer this school has tort” Grabiner continued “But I’m Wildseed!” “By blood, not magical core. Even though cores begin as new, they still hold their power. Just last year, a six-year-old girl blew up her house and killed everyone inside it because she had a powerful core” “And you think it’s the same for me?” “It will explain your accidental but yet powerful magic” Grabiner said not knowing how much of this was blowing my mind. It was a lot to take in.

“What’s that meant to be?” I asked nodding to his drawing in hopes to change the subject to a less confusing one. 

“A drawing” Grabiner said but I just raised my eyebrow at him and placed my hands on my hips. This was seriously not the time for his sarcasm! Wisely, Grabiner cleared his throat and started to explain “this is a very poor drawing of our world” he said before he pointed to the top half of his drawing where a poorly drawn tree was sat. “This is the Otherworld, as you already know, The Mother Tree is there, the source of all magic. She sits in the most powerful and richest Kingdom in the Six Realms. An Elf kingdom called The Outabeoneian Kingdom. She has been protected there for other three million years by the same family. These are her roots” Grabiner paused there to follow the lines he has drawn down the picture “some believe the ground of the two worlds-that’s the Mundane world and The Otherworld-are back to back, joined together by The Mother Tree’s roots. Between those words is The Pandora Dimension, where magic for the two worlds are reborn. That is where we go when we seek our magical core. Explain why a wizard would wish to reach his magical core”

At first I stuttered in surprise, I seriously didn’t think he would put me on the spot like this! “To um...” I paused there to quickly think, I learnt this last year, I know I did! Think, Luke! “To channel your magic, to understand it” I said suddenly remembering the White Magic class like if it was yesterday. “That’s how you do mental magic” I added now remembering the book I read “by channelling your inner magical core, to let the magic flow more freely inside of you” “Good” Grabiner said giving me a proud smile for the first time ever “you channel your core by moving through The Pandora Dimension...We must inform the headmistress of your gifts at once. If you can truly enter those other cores then you will need protection. After all, a door opens two ways. If you can enter my core without me realizing for a whole three seconds then a soul with great power can enter yours unnoticed”

“What can happen if someone did that?” I asked curiously

“You saw my wall, what did you think I was hiding there? Coins and jewels like a pirate? No! I was hiding my core. A core that is shaped like a round ball, a ball that can easily be stolen” “Someone could steal my magic?!” “Without the need of physical touch” Grabiner said seriously before he slowly stood up “now, let’s go, we cannot waste time!”

....Five minutes later....

Petunia Potsdam was sat behind her white wood desk, sat in what looked like a very comfortable leather bright pink desk chair. Her office was located next to the now reception, near the main doors of Iris. The office walls were decorated with flower-themed wallpaper that you would see in your grandma’s house. You know the kind, the one where if you looked at it for too long it gave you a headache. The flowers were nice though. Red roses and white lilies. The carpet was a blinding pink and the curtains covering the large windows were white.

Dragging my eyes from the floor for the second time in three seconds I saw that Petunia was still rooting in one of her desk draws.

“This is just a rare occasion!” she said way too happily. She saw the exact same memory Grabiner did and she agreed with his theory. That I was born with a very powerful magical core. “I think it’s been a good twenty years since we’ve had a student with a powerful core like yours. She could not only see golden cores but she could also see the grey ones. She used to tell me how brilliant it was to watch a grey core turn into gold. It was like watching a birth she said and in some ways it is. Mind you, she was a graduate then, so she knew how to protect her own core. We’ve only had one other student who needed protection. He was a boy actually, the same age as you-” “stop the nagging woman and get on with it!” “-and he became a seer for one of the kingdoms of the Six Realms” Petunia continued ignoring Grabiner’s words.

"Here it is" Petunia smiled before placing a medium-sized black box on to her desk. I watched as she lifted the lid off the box. Inside the box was a necklace sat on top of black cardboard. The necklace had a sliver-thin chain that was attached to a circle that had a line in the middle of it. The circle was the size of my palm and it was a brilliant gold. Petunia lifted the necklace out of the box and placed on the desk before she separated the two halves. The halves spilt perfectly in two, in the shape of a half-moon. The left side of the half-circle was pushed in front of me while the right was pushed in front of Grabiner. "This necklace is fused with the strongest Black and White magic. When worn it protects a magical core. But as you see, there are two half's to it. Both of which protect you, Luke. The half you wear builds a wall that protects your core. It stops any soul skilled enough from taking your core. The other half must be worn by someone who has a bond with you. Any bond would do. A friendship, a romantic or a bound created by a promise. Hieronymous shall have the other half. The half that will guide you through The Pandora Dimension, to your own core, in the shape of his spirit animal. This stops you from breaking into anyone else's core by accident or by intention...It's actually quite fitting that Hieronymous has this half. He does enjoy protecting people, definitely his students" "Petunia" Grabiner growled in annoyance, he clearly wasn't pleased by the change of subject. "Patience costs nothing, Hieronymous...Your half of the necklace will also pick up on your spirit animal, Luke" "Why?" "Hieronymous's leads you to your core while yours leads you out of it" Petunia smiled before she gestured to the two halved necklace. "Put them on" Slowly, I held the thin sliver chain of my half of the necklace. I looked at the plan gold half-moon. "The shape of your spirit animal will fill in your half of the necklace" Petunia explained. Curious, I looked over to Grabiner who had already clipped his side of the necklace around his neck. I watched as a sliver dot appeared in the center of his half-moon before it changed shape. The transformation was quick and before I knew it, there was a dragon on his half. The dragon had a curled neck so it was shaped similar to a C. It's nose was pressed against the flat rim of the half-moon. It was nicely detailed. You could see its scales and horns nicely. I smiled at Grabiner, it was my friendly smile. Because of course, his spirit animal would be a dragon. He has the quick temper, strength, grace, and pride but most of all he's terribly misjudged. He can be gentle and kind to those who don't annoy him. At that moment, I put my necklace on, wondering what my animal would be. I watched as the same small dot change its appearance. What it changed to made me smile. It was a wolf. My spirit animal was a wolf. It had its head in the same position of Grabiner's dragon. It's neck curled into a C shape and its nose pressed against the flat surface of the half-moon. "Well, I never" Petunia said a little breathlessly which made me look at her in confusion. "The Wolf and the Dragon" At that moment, Grabiner suddenly stood up with a terrible frown on his face before he left the room. I looked at his empty chair for two whole seconds before looking back at Petunia. "What just happened? Why is he suddenly angry?" I asked in confusion. "When isn't Hieronymous Grabiner angry?" Petunia laughed before she placed three fingers of her left hand on her lower cheek. Her eyes were shining brightly and she was now pulling an expression I didn't like. It was the same expression Emily pulls when something awfully romantic happens in the books she reads. "In Elf culture, the Wolf and the dragon are worshipped. It is believed that while the dragon protects with its own powerful strength and knowledge, the Wolf protects with understanding and love...It is believed if two souls have these animals as spirit animals, they are a match. Many stories tell of love and understanding between the two animals. Loving each other perfectly. The Wolf is loyal, patient, loving and understanding. While the dragon is strong, intelligent and powerful. It is believed that is the wolf's gentle heart that soothes a dragon...Hieronymous knows this even if he refuses to see it. He knows that you are both a match. Your two spirit animals have been known to have a great friendship or the most beautiful of love." "So...He's basically angry because our spirit animals are friends?" "A match, dear. Perfect for each other" Petunia said before she pointed at my necklace. "If your necklaces join, your animals will be nose to nose.”

** **

** (Say hi to the artist of this artwork here: https://www.deviantart.com/theawesomeaki-kun) **

“A clear sign that there's already a strong bond between you two...Hieronymous is angry because his necklace tells a truth that he wasn't ready for...That you both see each other either as a friend or a lover. We already know your truth-" that made me blush furiously "-the question is what is his" The next day, I decided to take a walk around the large field in front of the school. The field was next to the six large blossom tree and it ran the length of the school. There was nothing special about the field, it was just a boring field full of grass and nothing more. It was nice to have some fresh air, plus I knew that I was giving Grabiner time to cool off alone. All this morning he was glaring at me like an angry cat. It wasn't my fault that our necklaces told me that he saw me as a friend before his words could. Talking about necklaces. While Grabiner hides his under his shirt, I decided to have mine on show. It would be a pity to hide just a lovely necklace. "Watch out!" A voice suddenly cried but it was already too late, the ball hit me square in the cheek, knocking me onto the ground. I landed on my side with a terrible thud. "Oh shit! Oh shit!" A boy’s panic voice stuttered out. "Dude! That's Grabiner's husband!"

“I know!” "Don't just stand there, like an idiot! Check if he's alright!" Slowly, I sat up but then there was a boy knelt in front me. He made me jump as he came from my blind side. "Are you alright?" He asked but all I could do was stare at him. I've never seen this boy before. He had gorgeous amber eyes with dark blue hair and freckles on his cheeks. He looked around a year older than me and he was clearly a Falcon. Which would make sense, I don't know that many Falcon boys. "Yeah, I'm fine" I said rubbing my cheek "I'm really sorry" the boy said "the ball went the opposite direction" "It's fine" I said before I stood up while the boy followed me up. He was taller than me and he was rather well built too. It wasn't rare to see Falcon boys built like a bears. But this one, I could clearly see his muscles through his sweat soaked jumper. He had a six pack with the biggest chest and abs I've ever seen. "You're not going to tell your husband, right? He'll expel me for sure" the boy said which made me frown at him. "Howard" another boy said suddenly appearing next to him. This boy was tall and slender with a very strong jaw. He had yet black hair and the brightness green eyes I've ever seen. "He said it was alright, stop freaking out" the boy said before he gave me a brilliant smile "I'm sorry, Howard is a little bit skittish" "Anyone would freak if they hit Grabby's husband, Nile" another boy said appearing next to Howard. However, this boy truly took my breath away. He had honey blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. His skin was bronze, he had a strong jaw and a very well shaped face. He was built like a house, a house that had no wallpaper. I'm saying that because he was topless. His eight pack gleaming in the sun so perfectly. Yeah, I stopped listening to a word they were saying. All three of them were truly stunning. It made me wonder when the hell I teleported into a model magazine. "I have to go" I suddenly said before I shock my head while a voice inside of me screamed at me. It told me that I was married, that I was already in love with someone and that I shouldn't be drooling over three strangers. No matter how perfect they all look. "Wouldn't you like one of us to take you to the infirmary?" Nile asked "That's a terrible idea, Nile" Howard muttered "Yeah, what would Grabby think if he saw his husband walking with three handsome boys?" The boy with the red hair said. Yeah, I zoned out so much I didn't hear his name. But damn, he's gorgeous. "He's got a point" I said "Fine" Nile huffed before he winked at me "if you're stuck with anything, please come and find one of us" "Bloody hell, don't flirt with him!" The boy with red hair snapped before he physically pushed Nile away. "Sorry again" Howard said with a quick bow before he ran after his friends. Once they were gone I cleared my throat and brushed myself down. Bloody hell, I've never been so flustered before! Who knew boys like that existed at Irsh Academy. I decided to go back to Grabiner's room for a quick shower to cool myself down. However, when I stepped out of the shower to have a look at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but squeal in shock. "Oh fuck!" I loudly said before gently placing three fingers under the bright purple/red bruise on my cheek. I knew I bruise easily but this was taking the mick. With an angry huff, I walked out into the main room just to freeze. Grabiner was sat on the small table behind the three-seater couch, with a fresh game of chess. "What happened?" He growled his eyes clearly glaring at my new bruise. "Got accidentally hit by a ball" I answered as I sat in the chair in front of him. "Guess they didn't see me because of my hair...Never gonna walk on that grass alone again" I muttered before I noticed his expression "what?" "Your magic didn't stop the ball from hitting you. That is perfect evidence that my theory is correct. That your magic only sparks out of control when it needs to protect you or when you are angry." "Which means?" "Which means I need to teach you how to mentally cast a magical shield and to how to take my wand off me, when I win this game" "If you win" "When I win" he said with a smug smirk. Grabiner was right of course, he totally won the game. That meant that we went down to the dungeons together to practice two mentally casted spells. Doing mental magic was a lot harder than doing it with a wand. You had nothing to flow your magic into, nothing to control it. I had to channel my inner core first, which I successfully did with the help of Henry. Henry was now the name of the little dragon that walks beside me in The Pandora Dimension. Henry was a cute little dragon. He was the same size as your average Tabby cat. He moved with a grace I could never manage. Jumping and running across all the different golden lines I saw. Henry lead me to a line that was a blinding light blue. Once I was inside my core it was like if I was underwater. I didn't know what I was looking for until I actually found it. Grabiner wasn't joking when he said magical cores where the shape of a round ball. It was the same colour as the spider-web line. At that moment, I knew the colour of my core. It was blue. The opposite of red. Slowly, I placed my hands on my core. A rush of magic hit me like a strong wreaking ball. My magic was indeed strong. It felt like if a strong ocean wave was crushing my bones. It was out of control. It's a miracle that my accidental magic hasn't done serious harm yet. When I wanted to leave my core, a stunning white wolf with bright emerald green eyes appeared in front of me. All I could think of was one single question. Why was my spirit animal a female? I knew the Wolf was a female because of her shaved belly, where ten nipples where sat. I could clearly see them thanks to how she was sat in front of me. When I was back within my body, I decided to ask Grabiner my question before it started to worry me. "Are you certain that the Wolf was a female?" "Yeah" "That doesn't surprise me" Grabiner said “you are a gentle soul until your patience runs out. Do not worry, it is common for spirit animals to be the opposite gender” “Yours isn’t” I couldn’t help point out “That it isn’t...Now stop trying to distract me, let’s begin with the lesson shall we? I think you should learn shield first”

Like I said, it was difficult and exhausting to cast spells mentally but because the two spells Grabiner tort me were Red, I had a natural talent with them. Once he was confident I knew the spells and could perform them correctly did Grabiner pick up the pace. He started to cast spells at me, spells that I had to block with my shield. His magic cracked loudly in the air with the force of a sledgehammer and each spell was cast quickly and effortlessly. Sometimes, I found myself being either stung by a lighting spell, pushed onto the ground by a heavy push or falling on my face because of a leg lock spell. Each time he hit me with a spell I felt myself getting frustrated. He wasn’t allowing me to catch my breath or even stand up before casting another spell. The more and more I got frustrated, my efforts would slip which annoyed him. He would shout at me, losing his temper and after two good hours of it, I finally lost grip of my temper. When he fired another fire spell at me, there was a loud crack within the air, I felt my magic run up my entire body before like a puff of breath it pushed outwards and the fire spell hit an invisible wall just to backfire on Grabiner. Thankfully, Grabiner dissolved the spell before it even touched him. At that moment, he looked at me. I was standing on shaking legs totally breathless and sweating terribly. However, we could both feel it. The pure energy of my magic in the air. It turned the cold and damp dudgeon into a sunbed. “Finally” he said panting breathlessly himself, his white sweat-soaked shirt clinging to his firm and flat chest. “You used more of your Mana. Do not be afraid to use the magic within you, let it flow freely. Do it again, but this time do not do it by accident. See if you can control it...I’m going to use a stronger spell this time, a spell that will leave a nasty burn so you better not let it hit you” and with that Grabiner got ready to cast.

Oh, he was serious

Well shit...

Quickly, I straightened my back and took a deep breath before I let my magic freely wrap around my body like a soft blanket, it was warm and soft, cooling down to a perfect temperature. Slowly, I imagined that my magic was running up my body, like water from a showers head, until it reached my hands. At that moment, I held my magic there until I saw Grabiner move, I quickly casted shield mentally imagining there was a brick wall in front of me to only watch Grabiner’s spell hit an invisible wall again. I felt stupidly proud of myself but if I thought Grabiner would take it easy on me now, I was terribly mistaken. That was because he won seven games of chess which meant, days of exhausting mental duels with him. He would do more powerful spells each day, working me like a horse. I ended each lesson in pain and exhausted but most of all frustrated. Frustrated because he would yell at me if my magic sparked on its own, or if I did accidental magic. Or yell when I didn’t manage to do my magic quick enough. Day after day we dueled and day after day I landed on the hard stone floor of the dudgeon.

However, it wasn’t all bad.

We’ve gotten a little routine now. I would wake up before him, have a shower and go to make our pancakes (honey on his and jam on mine) for breakfast. When I returned to his room he would be awake and washed. We had breakfast together and just talked. We talked about anything. I manly told him stories of my family. He was horrified to learn that I used to climb high trees with dad and that I almost drowned in the lake next to the farm. But he did enjoy the story about my failures in the farm. The story about me ending up sliding across a muddy field because I couldn’t catch the pigs, made him laugh. So did my many stories of the terrifying guard geese that used to peck my ankles and arse. Other times he would tell me some things about his childhood. How he enjoyed his father’s library or how he used to sit up on the roof of his father’s mansion to look out at the stunning countryside view. The stories how he used to steal cookies from the kitchens making me laugh and bake my own cookies for him. An hour after breakfast, after we read our own books, we would walk through the main courtyard and the length of the field. We either talked or just enjoyed each other’s company. I’ve forgotten how many times I made him smile a small smile during the walks. After the walk, we would play chess where he always won so he went off to get ready for our lesson. Our lessons lasted for two hours and afterwards I was too frustrated to talk to him so we did our own thing. The last time he tried to talk to me after a lesson, I snapped at him and accidentally broke his coffee mug. However, after two hours of peace Petunia always came to visit us. Grabiner and her would always play chess together which she would always win. It took me those seven days to slowly realize what she was actually doing. She wasn’t playing chess with Grabiner to check if he was still okay. No, she was playing chess because she was showing me how to beat him. She made me realize that Grabiner uses the same moves at certain times.

It was on our eighth game that I finally beat him. At first, I couldn’t believe it, I was totally speechless before I yelled in happiness

“Oh my god yes!! I finally beat you!!” I laughed happily before jumping on my feet so fast that I knocked my chair over backwards “come on, get dressed, you need to wear something old, something you don’t mind getting dirty. We’re gonna make a pie” and with tha, I skipped into the dressing room to get clean clothes before rushing into the bathroom to get changed. I got dressed in a simple yellow dress, putting on a white flowery cooking apron (that I brought here from home, I hope Eric doesn’t mind) on top of it, wearing white pumps. It felt great to wear something feminine after seven days of wearing jeans and jumpers. When I returned to the main room, Grabiner was stood at the door with his arms over his chest wearing a light blue shirt that had its sleeves rolled to his elbows and black trousers.

“Don’t sulk because you lost” I laughed opening the door.

Grabiner and I went down the kitchens were I tort him how to make a pie and when he said he’s never cooked before he wasn’t joking. I had to talk him through every step and show him what to do. I ended up standing in front of him, my back to his chest. That way, I could stop him easily and show him where he was going wrong. I was the perfect height for this, Grabiner was six foot while I was four, he could easily look over me. I also helped him roll out the pie crust by placing my small hands over his. I showed him how to cook meat and vegetables and how to fill the pie with them before covering the pie with another crust and putting in the oven. While we waited for the pie to cook I sat on the kitchen counters telling him about all the other meals I planned to teach him. Pasta, more homemade pies, chicken and lamb dishes, fish dishes and even soup. When the pie was cooked and ready to eat, Grabiner was the happiest I’ve ever seen him. It was obvious that he hated cooking “to much effort” he said with a frown on his face. 

His remark made me laugh.

I won the next three chess games which meant I tort Grabiner how to cook for three days in a row. I would always stand in front of him with my back pressed against his chest, my hands going on his large bony hands whenever he went wrong. Within those three days, I got used to his presence and treated him how I would Charlie. Teasing him, making jokes, talking to him about random things, sharing ideas I had for my drawings, showing my drawings and I even sat beside him now, reading my books...

It was the first Monday of the last month of the summer holiday, Grabiner and I decided to sit under the single tree that was sat on the field in front of the school. We got this spot by him chasing off students who were kissing and moving onto more. We were sat on a lovely white and pink striped blanket with a straw basket in front of us. We just finished the ham sandwich wrap I tort Grabiner to make. Now, he was reading a book and I was enjoying the cool air dressed in my off the shoulder white dress that had a pattern of pink roses.

“May I ask a question?” Grabiner suddenly asked closing his book

“You just did” I teased looking at him just to see he was frowning in annoyance at me “but you can ask me another” I laughed wriggling my toes in my sandal high heel shoes. In these, I’m at least a foot taller than I actually was. “You still call me sir, why is that?”

“What do you mean? What else should I call you?” I asked in confusion

“Perhaps my given name, we are friends are we not?”

“Oh, well yes...But...You gave me permission to call you by your first name but then...well...since then I didn’t think I could call you by your first name without you yelling at me. I mean, you haven’t said I could use it again so I haven’t” I explained thinking back to the day where he tried to threaten me. “Well, I would like to give you permission to use my given name again, that is, if you wish to use it” “No, no I will, thank you Hieronymous” I smiled giving his thigh a friendly tap as I did so. “I’ve also came up with a plan of action” “Oh?”

“I thought we could cook one day and then the next day we could do the extra lessons you need and so on. I thought that would be a better idea than the chess games since you’re getting so good now” “Oh...So...We won’t play chess now?” “We will, I enjoy the game as much as you do” Hieronymous said with a soft smile and it made me smile beautifully back at him.

“I like the sound of that”

So, that is what we did for that week and the next, we would cook together on one day then do a lesson the day after just to move on to cooking again and so on. Our little routine never truly changed, apart from Hieronymous joining me to make pancakes. However, that all changed on the Monday of the third week of the second month of the holiday. I knew the other students would be back within two weeks. That meant that Heironymous had to start working- to go to staff meetings, do his lesson plans, prepare his lectures and start walking the school's halls again to keep the order. This meant the only time I really saw him was in the mornings and the hour slot he had free to give me my well needed extra lessons. At first, I enjoyed all the free time I had alone in his rooms. I would enjoy a long soak in his bath, danced around his room in my white nighty that spun around me like a dress, lifting up so much it showed my boxers. I even laid on top of his bed on my stomach to read, with Athena on my back purring loudly dressed in my pink summer pyjama’s. However, after four days alone I finally got bored and lonely. That’s when I decided to have a walk around the school dressed in an off the shoulder white jumper and light blue arse hugging jeans. While I walked I hoped I would bump into someone I knew, someone who wouldn’t look at me and hurry away. And for once my hopes were answered:  


"Mr Danson! Unless you wish to successfully book yourself a detention with me, may I suggest that you stop this behaviour immediately?!" Hieronymous shouted angrily but I could only smile and hurry to his voice. Donald was here, one of my friends was here and I could, at last, have company! I changed my pace, changing my fast walk to a run. I knew I shouldn't be running. I knew I always ran into things when I did. This time was no different. Donald was walking backwards out of a room laughing and didn't see me. I ended up running him onto the ground which ended us being a messy pile of bodies. However, my fall was softened by Donald’s firm chest. I didn't wait, I sat on top of him with a huge smile on my face and once Donald came to and realized who I was he started to laugh. It was his cheerful laugh, like if he just successfully done a prank. "Only you would say hi by knocking me down" Donald laughed "just like last year" ~~Flash back~~ "Come on, Charlie!" I said with a huge smile walking quickly to my first ever magic lesson. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I was almost bouncing off the walls. "Slow down Luke, you’re going to run into someone" Charlie said in his soft and quiet voice, from a mile behind me. I've only known Charlie for a day and a half but I already see him as a good friend. He's so easy to get along with. I didn't listen to his advice like I should have. Because, like he said I would, I walked straight into someone at high speeds, knocking us both on to the ground. "Ow" a boys voice muttered before we sat up and looked at each other. The boy was another boy from Wolf Hall. He had black hair and skin with grey eyes. He had a face that needed to grow into his strong jaw and big childlike eyes. Basically, he was really cute. "Um hi" I awkwardly said "Hi" the boy said as awkwardly as I did if not more. "My name is Luke and this is Charlie" I paused there to point over to my new friend who finally catched up with me. "I'm Donald, Donald Danson" "Danson? Oh! I met your brother before" "I know" the boy muttered "You know?" "Doesn't take a genius to figure out that you're the rare beauty he told me about" "Probably not" I muttered awkwardly before I gave him my big friendly smile "but if you get to know me, I'm sure you'd soon learn I'm more than my looks" ~~~~~~~ After that day, Donald soon learnt that I was a prank genius. That's how we became friends. He would tell me his new ideas for a prank and I would tell him how to make it even better. One time he wanted to prank Hieronymous by hiding a music box that played Christmas music. At first, he wanted to hide by making the box invisible with magic. However, I pointed out that Hieronymous was too smart for that. That he would cast a spell to see what magic was at work. So I suggested hiding the music box in one of the bookcases inside a book. What followed was the best prank performed in Blue magic class. Hieronymous stalked the classroom for a whole five minutes trying to figure out who was humming Christmas songs. True, Donald got a detention and ten demerits but he said it was totally worth it. "You bet!" I happily said giving Donald my large playful smile as I suddenly felt full of energy. There's something about Donald that makes me want to act like a playful eight-year-old. Like if he's like a sugar rush for me. "Now that you two have joined together like a terrible car crash. Perhaps the both of you could do something that won't annoy me" Hieronymous's voice behind us making us both look at him "I don't think that's possible, sir" I laughed playfully before looking down to Donald "how about we find this mysterious beach together?" "You know how I love mysteries, we go on your command detective Wolf" Donald playfully said after a quick glance at my necklace. "Off we go then detective Prankision, with your skills and my brains, we’ll solve this mystery!" I said before getting off Donald and helping him to stand. Once on his feet Donald playfully nudged me with his shoulder before he walked forward. Laughing, I hurried to walk beside him.

Off to find a beach we go!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "what did you think I was hiding there? Coins and jewels like a pirate?" That has to be the best thing I've written in this chapter and I love it.


	7. The last few days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donald is finally in this story! YAY!  
I loved writing this chapter because of him! I love his friendship with Luke.

The only logical place the beach could be was down Devil Tooth's steep hill. Walking side by side, Donald and I tried not to trip on the many small pebbles and stones and fall flat on our faces.  
"So, why are you at school?" I finally asked watching where I was walking. Because knowing my terrible luck and terrible sense of balance, I'd be the one to fall.  
"Got too many demerits, had to come back early to get back onto positive" Donald said kicking stones without falling over "what about you? I can't see you being here because of that. You freak when you get only five demerits"  
"Oh, um...I had no choice. Potsdam wrote to my mum who made me come here. She thought it was for extra credit work. But, in reality, I had to come back to look after Grabiner when he was sick because Potsdam was too busy"  
"Well, that sucks, I hope he's been nice to you" Donald muttered   
"Oh he has, he's been really nice" I said with a smile but then I noticed Donald's expression. It was filled with slight horror. Like if he just watched Ace Ventura come out of the fake Rhinos butt for the first time. 

It didn't take me long to figure out why.  
"Not like that, Donald!" I cried in embarrassment knowing all too well that Donald's mind went down the gutter that was a dirty teenaged mind.   
"What you do is none of my business" Donald said blushing furiously now holding his hands up in surrender.   
"I'm not doing anything! Definitely not with Grabiner! We're just friends" I said the last bit with a huff. "He's good to talk to"  
"Talk at, you mean" Donald said with an amused snort  
"Sometimes...But sometimes he talks back. Yes, it's rare but that just means I appreciate it more...After all, you don't always find the rarest of jewels when you hunt for treasure" I paused there to smile widely "I've learnt so much about him. He's smart, caring and has the most sarcastic humour I've ever heard"

"Well..." Donald started awkwardly. He clearly had no idea what to reply with. "I hope you're not thinking about not being apart of the Three Prankteers anymore because you’re Grabby's friend"  
"No, no of course not. You and Luke will be lost without me"  
"You bet we will" Donald laughed before he stopped walking. 

I stopped walking to just to see that we reached the end of Devil Tooth's hill.  
"Left or right?" Donald asked.  
At the bottom of the steep hill, there were two dirt paths. Both of them thin and narrow leading into a group of trees that we couldn't see past. One path was on the left side of the road and the other was on the right.   
I bit my lip while I slid the half-moon of my necklace through my fingers, thinking.   
This was a 50, 50 chance.   
One path would lead us to the beach and the other would lead us to God knows where. 

We decided to go left.  
"So, what's with that necklace?” Donald asked watching me as I still played with it nervously. "Is it some sort of friendship necklace? You got a best friend at home or something?"  
"No" I answered before thinking on how to explain what the necklace was to Donald. Because even though he was a great guy, he wasn't the brightest tool in the box. "It's something that protects my magic from being stolen"  
"What? Why don't we all have that?"  
"Because I have a powerful core"  
"A what?"  
"The thing that stores our magic, Donald. Potsdam said because I have a powerful one and that it holds more magic than it should for someone at my age and skill. It needs to be protected. So I have this necklace"  
"So, it's some sort of protection necklace? Why didn't you just say that?" Donald muttered wrinkling his nose in annoyance. "Who has the other half?"  
"Grabiner"  
"Why?"  
"Because his magic makes sure that I only have access to my own core" I answered.   
"Soooo...You could tap into my core? Take my magic, if you wanted?"  
"Not now"  
"But before you could?"  
"I don't know, maybe" I answered in honest confusion with a shrug. Petunia didn't mention that I could take someone else's magic. She just said there was a risk of me breaking inside someone else's core. Maybe I could and she decided not to tell me just in case I wanted to try it out. 

"If you could, that'll mean you are some sort of Mage"  
"Yeah, I know"  
"Which is odd" Donald suddenly said which caused me to look at him in confusion. His expression told me that he was now thinking, that the wheels in his brain were now working in overdrive. "You would think being able to tap in someone else's magic would be White Magic, but you're terrible at it. So how can you be a White Magic Mage?"

Damn, he had a good point there.  
"Unless it's a gift," Donald said with a shrug "you know, like your good at that and nothing else? Or maybe you're so shit at White Magic because of your gift. Who knows"   
And with another shrug Donald let the matter drop. I, however, couldn't. I pushed Donald's question to the back of my mind to the "ask Hieronymous later" list.

"We found it!" Donald happily declared suddenly. Snapping out of my thoughts I looked up just to see that he was somehow a good few feet from me. This made me sigh. Whenever I'm thinking about something I walk as slow as a snail.   
Wanting to see this mysterious beach, I hurried next to Donald and what I saw took my breath away.

There in front of me was the most stunning beach I have ever seen. The sand glowed in the sun and the ocean was as blue as the sky. Slowly, I took off my pumps to dig my toes into the sand, enjoying how the warm sand ran between my toes with a sigh. I looked towards Donald just to see that he was now getting undressed beside me  
“I’m going for a swim!” he said to me with a cheerful smile “join me, won’t you?”   
“Um” was the only thing I could say. I’ve never liked being around anyone else in just my underwear, not even my family. Not only was I petite, but I was slender, lanky and covered in freckles. I always felt so awkward being half-dressed around other people.   
Just because everyone else saw me as beautiful, didn’t mean I did.  
“No will judge you, here” Donald smiled already in his own dark blue boxers, his surprising toned black-skinned chest gleaming in the sun. At that moment, I looked to the ocean and I had to admit, it looked so tempting.  
“Oh, what the hell” I muttered before getting undressed “let’s go for a swim!” and with that, we both ran to the water.

Our time on the beach was amazing. It felt so good to laugh, to joke and not worry about harsh or sarcastic comments coming my way. For the first time in...Well, ages I felt free on school grounds. Since my marriage with Hieronymous, I have kept away from the other students in fear of their questions but now...Now I know different. Sure, I still heard “oh, there’s Grabby’s husband” and “isn’t he the one who is shagging Grabby?” but for once no one was brave-stupid is more like it- enough to say anything to my face. They just left me and Donald to our fun and what fun we had. Swimming, splashing each other, playing volleyball with other students and we even built a sandcastle which we destroyed afterward.

I even joined some students who were dancing to some Celtic Music-which I freaking love!-and to my shock people actually wanted to dance with me! After my dancing, I decided to enjoy the sun by sunbathing on the lovely warm sand while Donald was jumping off the little-wooded bridge into the water over and over again. I soon joined him back into the water to both swim and cool off. I then joined some students in a game of volleyball, Donald and I decided to be on different teams just to both mingle with the other students and not look like a couple. After the fun game, Donald and I sat under a tree together to cool down before we went back to the school. 

“That was so much fun!” I laughed playfully pushing Donald with my shoulder “thank you”  
“Don’t thank me you idiot” Donald laughed pushing me back with his shoulder “It’s been so lame being stuck here with no friends” that made me smirk at him.  
“I can imagine but a little bird told me that you and Ellen went to the dance together. How did it go?” I asked and of course, that “bird” was Charlie who went to the May Day dance with India.   
“We went there as friends at first but...I guess I've always liked her, you know? She's kind and cute but most of all she's so smart. Smarter than I will ever be. So after I had a great time with her I sort of... Well, blurted out that I would like to be her boyfriend...I didn't mean to say it but I did. I wanted to know if she liked me too. I was truly shocked when she said she'll go out with me. So yeah, I guess it went really good”

“Did you kiss her?” I asked full of curiosity and it was Donald's bright blush that told me that yes, yes he did kiss her.   
“How was it?”  
“Awkward...Neither of us had kissed before. I don't even know if we did it right... I guess you haven't kissed anyone before too, right?”  
“Erm...I kinda kissed a girl when I was eight. I was curious and she was too so we just did it”  
“Is that what made you gay? Her terrible kissing?” Donald laughed and I snorted at him.   
“If only it was that easy!' I laughed “but no, I didn't know what I liked back then. I was twelve when I realized”  
“Have you kissed another boy before?”  
“I have” I said with a smile before I snorted at his surprised face “I’m not as innocent as you think” I paused there to playfully nudge Donald with my shoulder. “His name was David, he lived around ten houses away from me. He was known for playing with girls hearts and sleeping with as many as he could. He was a true player...Anyways, one day he came up to me and told me he was curious. Said he hasn’t...Well...You know...With a boy before. Said I was the most beautiful boy he had ever seen...After that he just asked me point blank, he just said: “how do you fancy shagging me to know what it feels like”. I was curious myself and he was awfully handsome, blond hair and purple eyes. I said yes so he was my first kiss and the first man I had sex with”  
“Did you see him again?”  
“Oh yes, when he grew bored of girls he would always come to me. I was perfectly happy with being his fuck buddy”  
“What happened?”  
“He moved away just before I started here, I shared his bed for a whole year” I said with a soft smile

“Did you love him?”  
“God no, he was a jerk. Too full of himself for me to fall for him. He was just someone to experiment with, to learn from, what happened between us meant nothing. So, I wasn’t sad to learn that he was living town” I slowly said. Even with David, getting undress was awkward and embarrassing even more so because I was getting undressed to have sex. “How about you? Got any experience?”  
He didn’t answer but his blush told me no  
“What’s it like?” Donald asked blushing furiously but I could see the curious gleam in his grey eyes.  
“It’s” I paused there to think for a second, pulling the memories I had of David from the back of my mind “It’s good, I was lucky, David had experience, he knew what he was doing so he didn’t hurt me. I mean, it did hurt a little but that was because I was a virgin and tight. But it’s good, fun and sometimes addicting. It is a great way to feel pleasure but I think...I think it would feel awesome to do it with someone you loved and cared for. My mum told me that sex isn’t about pleasure but it is a way that two lovers share passion and bond. She said that I should have waited until I fell in love and maybe I should have but I didn’t want to go into it blind if I do end up finding someone special”

Donald didn’t say anything back to that, he just sat there in silence stuck in his own thoughts. I respected that, so I didn’t bother him. We stayed at the beach until it was time to go back to the school, it was when we were struggling to climb the steep hill of Devil’s Tooth that Donald finally spoke:  
“Two weeks to go until school starts” he said “do you have any siblings coming?”  
“Yeah, two of my sisters-oh shit! I’ll have to tell them about my marriage!” I suddenly remembered in horror. Oh sure, it wasn’t my fault that I was married but Emily and Kara will tell that I was in love with my accidental husband. Emily will be supportive as Petunia Potsdam, asking all sorts of questions like: have we kissed yet, what was Hieronymous like, what do I like about him, what does he enjoy. But Kara? She’ll be another story. She will not be supportive. She’ll point out that I’m in love with a man who was twice my age and my professor. She’ll point out that he wasn’t the most handsome man in the world and she’ll no doubt learn about his awful temper.   
“They will be cool about it, it’s not like you’re in love with Grabby” Donald laughed but then his face paled when he saw my blush, a blush that told him that I was, in fact, in love with Hieronymous Grabiner.  
I’m way too easy to read, sometimes...

Donald and I parted ways in the main courtyard, I knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to let him follow me up to Hieronymous’s room. Goodness knows what type of pranks Donald would pull if he knew where he lived. When I entered the room, Hieronymous was sat at his desk doing work  
“Hey” I said only to let him know I’m back  
“Good afternoon” he answered, “did you have a good time?”  
That question would have surprised me a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have expected him to be so curious or genuine but now...Now that we’re friends, I knew he was trying to have a conversation with me. Not like it was hard to do, I could talk for England if I wanted to and have a whole conversation with a wall. To say I was a chat a box would be an understatement.  
“I did, it was great fun, the beach is fantastic and the water is to die for. Not literary of course. But it was good to have fresh air, a swim, and good company. Not saying your company isn’t nice because it is but sometimes it’s nice to just loosen up and just have fun like a kid again while other times it’s nice to just relax and have a good old chat with a friend” I said moving to lean on Hieronymous’s desk before I sat on the edge, swinging my legs. “You know, I think if Donald wasn’t a scamp, you two would get along”  
“I firmly object” Hieronymous said “that boy and I have nothing in common”  
“Either do we”  
“You have your intelligence” 

“I know Donald isn’t the brightest bulb in a light store but he actually made a good point today. A point that I would like to ask you about” I said and at that moment Hieronymous stopped writing to look at me with a raised eyebrow  
“If this ends up being a question any idiot can answer I will happily give you both a detention” he said before he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest while doing so. If that isn’t an opening for me to ask my question I don’t know what was.  
“So you know the whole thing about me seeing other peoples core lines in The Pandora Dimension?”  
“Sadly” Hieronymous muttered, his half of the necklace hidden beneath his white shirt  
“Well...Why can I do it?” I asked   
“It is a rare gift one has when one as a powerful core like you”  
“But it doesn’t make sense. I’m rubbish at White Magic, so how can I have that gift?”  
“Just because one can run doesn’t mean they win the race” he said but that just made me blink in confusion. With a sigh, Hieronymous said it simpler “You don’t have to be talented in White Magic to have this Gift. Being able to see other soul cores is just that, a gift, a gift blessed by a powerful magical core”  
“But...Do you think it could be a reason why I’m terrible at White magic?”  
“No, you can become good at anything if you put enough practice in” Hieronymous said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh...” I said before I frowned, something didn’t seem right about that explanation, it seemed too simple. Like if Hieronymous was saying “it’s one of those things, don’t worry about it”.   
“You’re thinking too much” Hieronymous said which made me frown at him “sometimes things have a simple reason of being what they are. You should feel proud of your gift, you shouldn’t question it”  
“I do when it puts me in danger”  
“Not any longer” Hieronymous said pausing there to tap the half-moon of my necklace “that is what this is for, to protect you. As long as you were it then you are safe, my magic keeps you safe”  
“And Henry”  
“I do hope that’s not the name you have forced onto my spirit animal. Couldn’t you come up with more of a creative name?”  
“Like what?” I asked with a laugh  
“Irdirth, perhaps?”  
“Irdirth? I guess that is a better name for a dragon” I said with a laugh before I asked “do you see my wolf?”  
“I do, she guides me to my own core and before you ask I named her Venus after the Greek Goddess Aphrodite”  
“Well, better to be called after the god of love than the god of war” I laughed looking other to Athena who was on her back in front of the fire purring loudly.   
“Like every female, she is terrifying when she’s angry” Hieronymous said making me laugh.

\------

It was on the Monday of the last week of the summer holiday that there was a knock on Hieronymous’s door. It was three gentle knocks before the door opened. We already knew who it was, Petunia’s knock is always the same. I waved at her from where I was laid on the two-seater couch reading a book and Athena curled on my stomach.  
“What can I do you for, Petunia?” Hieronymous asked stopping whatever work he was doing to spin his desk chair around to face her.   
“I came here to remind you both that this is the last week of summer vacation”  
“We are aware of that” Hieronymous muttered lifting his left eyebrow in confusion, a habit I noticed he has.  
“Well,” Petunia said before smiling widely as her green eyes gleamed brightly. At that moment Hieronymous and I looked at each other, we knew that we weren’t going to like what she was going to say next. She has that stupid fangirl smile she always pulls whenever she sees us getting along. “I wondered if your situation is going to stay the same. After all, Luke has stayed here more than he should have, you’ve been as healthy as a horse for a whole month, Hieronymous. I’ve been waiting every day for you to come to me demanding for Luke to return to his dorm room or for Luke to come to me explaining you’ve kicked him out...You have no idea how happy I am to see that none of those things has happened! It makes my heart sing to see you two so happy together. I haven’t seen you smile so much in years, Hieronymous-” “Petunia” “-now don’t get embarrassed! It wouldn’t surprise me if you two lovebirds have made a nest here-” “Petunia!” Hieronymous snapped finally losing any patience he had.

“While I have enjoyed Luke’s company, I must inform you that he hasn’t set foot in my bed. No matter how that may disappoint you. He has only stayed here so long because we may have lost track of time” Hieronymous said  
“I would like to return to Wolf Hall, Petunia” I said gently which made her look at me “I miss sleeping on a bed”  
“So you’re...”  
“Friends, Petunia, nothing more” Hieronymous said while I nodded in agreement. However, Petunia stilled looked at me. I knew she knew how I truly felt. Living with Hieronymous has been fantastic, I’ve learnt so much about him and a friendship has been built between us. However, I knew not to push for more.   
Why should I chase a heart that wasn’t mine?  
“Alright” Petunia sighed “Luke, you should move into your new dorm room on Thursday before the rest of the students come back. Your room is number three in Wolf Hall, your new school uniform will be waiting for you, as will one of your roommates Mr. Danson”  
“Donald’s going to be my roommate?” I said with a smile moving to sit up now, that was great news but then my heart sank “what about Charlie?”  
“Mr. Harmly will be joining you too” that made me smile brilliantly, “I thought that news would make you happy. I couldn’t miss the friendship that is between you two, dear. Plus, I do believe that the two of you will be excellent role models for Mr. Danson” Petunia said but I had to hold my snort in. Oh, how she was wrong! She had no idea that I was his third partner in crime and that I was a terrible role model.

“I suggest you two spend tomorrow wisely, it will be your last day together, after all, ~” Petunia said before she gave us a little wave before leaving the room.  
“That woman is unbearable” Hieronymous muttered angrily making me look at him  
“Why did she make it sound as if we’re not going to see each other again? We will won’t we?”  
“I am not one of your class chums” Hieronymous said glaring at me now “I do not simply have time to “hang out” with you”  
“Maybe not” I said unfazed by his glare “but perhaps you can make time for breakfast together? Or maybe an afternoon tea?”  
“And what do you think the population of this school would think of that?” he growled  
“That you don’t spend all your time being horrible to your husband by pushing him down the stairs? I don’t know, Hieronymous, and I don’t care. You are my friend, a friend I enjoy being around and if that’s a crime then fine, I’m guilty. Surely you don’t want this to be the end of our friendship either?” I said even though I didn’t have a clue if that was true. But I wanted it to be true with all my heart. I wanted to know if he liked me, if he enjoyed my company.  
“Perhaps, it will not be that awful for you to join me for breakfast” Hieronymous said making my smile go wider if that was even possible “and perhaps if your schedule allows it, we could continue our lessons. Goodness knows you still need to learn how to control that magic of yours”  
“That’ll be great” I smiled honestly

Two things surprised me the next day. One, I somehow lived out of a suitcase for two months and two, Hieronymous Grabiner asked me out for tea. He said that Petunia had a point yesterday (I could repeat that to her at my own peril). He said that he wished to take me to The Glen for a meal and a cup of tea. I of course, happily agreed. And that is where I was now. Sat at a table inside The Glen in front of my accidental husband dressed in my off the shoulder jumper and light blue jeans with white pumps.  
“I’m curious about something” I said resting my chin on my left hand  
“When aren’t you curious” Hieronymous muttered but I ignored him and carried on talking  
“Where did you get Athena?”  
“I didn’t” Hieronymous said looking around, no doubt wondering what was taking our meals so long to come. “Petunia got her for me for a Christmas present, she said that I needed the company”  
“That was nice of her”  
“Perhaps” Hieronymous muttered before he looked at me just to sigh, he knew by my expression I had another question for him so he lifted his left eyebrow at me. A clear sign that I could ask my question.  
“Why do you and Petunia wear wizard’s hats? Is it some kind of rule to wear one?”   
“It is a tradition for Magical schools head and deputy head to wear wizards hats so they are easily recognized. As you already know, my hat and record book are my unique signature. Petunia’s are...For one reason, her hat and those terribly coloured robes of hers” Hieronymous explained  
“You’re the deputy?”  
“That is my title but thankfully I do not do as much as one would...Petunia likes to be in control of her beloved school but she does come to me if she needs my advance. She says my intelligence and shockingly enough my strict influence helps...You can imagine how much I enjoyed bragging about that”  
“With a smart sarcastic remark that Petunia didn’t get for a few days?” I asked with a playful smile and I saw how Hieronymous tried not to smile at my words.   
“You are getting too comfortable with me” he finally said still forcing himself not to smile  
“Is that a bad thing?”  
“It can be” he said with a serious tone and a sad expression, his stunning eyes filling with pure pain. Damn, whatever Petunia was going to tell me about his past still hurts him. It must have been something awful. 

I didn’t know what to say, I mean, do I change the subject or should I let him be with his own thoughts? He’s so impossible to talk to sometimes!   
However, I was saved by our meals arriving, I was going to eat some type of pasta and he was going to eat a meat pie.  
“Thank you” he suddenly said making me snap my head up and look at him in confusion “for everything you have done for me. Not only did you become my nursemaid but you treated me with kindness and patience”  
“You don’t have to thank me”  
“Perhaps not but I wished to do it anyway, so thank you”  
“You’re welcome” I smiled feeling myself blush and my heart skip a beat.

After my meal with Hieronymous, I decided to go and have a look at the Mall. I was awfully relieved when he didn’t want to come with me. He said he didn’t want to become my coat hanger for my shopping bags. His words made me laugh, he has a funny way of saying things, sometimes. I waved goodbye to him with a wide smile before I went into the mall to get his birthday present.   
The first place I went to was the stationary shop. I went here last year on the first weekend of the school year with Charlie to get organized for school. I decided to do that again this year since the shop had a sale on and it would be loads better to get some things half price than paying full price for everything. I wandered around looking at cute pens, pencils, rulers and rubbers along with pencil cases, wondering if it was girly of me for liking the adorable rubbers that were shaped like food with cute faces. Halfway around the shop, I was about to give up until I saw something. It was the area of the stationary boxes. Last year, I never bothered to get one since they were all too dark and...Well, just plain old boring! But, this time I wasn’t looking for myself, no, I was looking for Hieronymous! I looked at them all again feeling a little disappointed that they were either a really dark wood brown or stupidly horrid bright colours. Pushing my opinions away I picked up a dark brown box and yeah, okay, this colour would match Hieronymous’s desk-if said desk was about three shades darker. Shaking my head at myself I opened the box just to frown. Okay, the little holder underneath the top for folders or papers was awesome but...What the fuck is this little box for? Can this be removed? With that in mind, I held the box and lifted, thankfully the little box could be removed and I smiled happily. Under the little box were little sections for Hieronymous’s stationery.

Even better there was a drawer at the bottom of the box which I opened and there was room for things like paper and more stationery. Even though the colour was totally wrong (for me) the box itself was perfect! Hieronymous’s desk is so messy I’m shocked he can find anything he needs! Smiling widely I got him the box, it’s a real shame there wasn’t one that looked like a bo-wait, wait! Omg, Luke, you are a genius! Quickly, I hurried out of the shop and down the mall ignoring the strange looks I was getting.   
I hurried to the only second hand/charity shop there was in the mall, I noticed this while on my first trip here too, and funny enough I got myself those fitting jeans I wore for the dates with Hieronymous. Skipping past the clothes, I got plenty of clothes now-which cause me to mentally thank Ginny for that. Seriously, if I see her in person again I will thank her and I will even throw some money her way if she wants. Not literally of course. Anyways, I went to the book area which was a tiny three shelved area. Hieronymous wouldn’t be pleased with this “collection”. Going onto my tiptoes-because I’m a short arse and someone decided to put all the books above eye level-I looked over the books. I was only was looking for a book that had a nice old cover on it, something that looked old. I spotted a book but I had to get one of the shop assistants to get it down to me. He watched me in confusion as I got the stationary box and took the paper cover off the book and measured it against the box. To my joy, the cover for the back page, front and the spine fit my box perfectly! Well, they would once I cut them and glue them on because the stupid from cover would pop off every-time I opened the damn book.

“This please!” I smiled happily while the shop assistant looked at me if I had two heads. With a shrug, the shop assistant lead me to the shop counter where I bought the book and placed it in the same plastic bag as the stationary box. I went back to the stationary shop to get glue, scissors, some paper, colouring pencils, and a rubber. I was a little bit angry that I had to get these items before any money off offers started but I’m sure it will be worth it. Plus, I will only a week to change this box into a book box for stationary. It will be a perfect little thing to do to challenge myself! I got myself a nice manly patchwork blue jacket too. As I returned to school I realized that I just couldn’t bring all the stuff I got into Hieronymous’s rooms! So I quickly placed my stuff in room three in Wolf Hall, Donald wasn’t in though, no doubt out pranking a poor student somewhere.

Once that was done I hurried back to Hieronymous’s room  
“I’m back!” I called into the room as I shut the door behind me  
“Yes, thank you for pointing out the obvious” Hieronymous muttered sarcastically under his breath but I just snorted. I knew he was teasing me, oh yeah, I am slowly learning his sarcastic teasing from the actual insulting sarcastic. Not like I’m an expert or anything! Far from it! I walked behind Hieronymous’s chair to look over his shoulder in curiosity.  
“Curiosity killed the cat Luke” Hieronymous muttered angrily but I just smirked at him  
“It wouldn’t if the cat had any knowledge” I replied which made him look over his shoulder at me  
“Where did you hear that?”  
“Just something my dad used to say” I said with a shrug before I playfully poked him in the top of the arm “Sooo, whata doing”  
“Wondering how you could possibly destroy the Queen’s English, more than you already are” he said now smirking at me before he pushed back his desk chair away from his desk “but what I am doing is no concern of yours, so do not worry about it”   
“Okay” I said with another shrug “I’m gonna pack”  
“You ARE GOING to pack”  
“Gonna!”  
“If I said that when I was your age I would get an hour long rant from Samuel” Hieronymous muttered but that made me look at him.

“Who’s Samuel?” I asked trying to think if he has ever said that name before to me but he hasn’t.   
“The daft Elf that is trapped into an eternal service with the Grabiner family until the most powerful, richest and pure-hearted Grabiner man is born. Apparently, the daft elf believes his soul mate is that person”  
“I didn’t know there were elves like that”  
“There isn’t not anymore...Samuel is the last of his kind”  
“Oh...Well, I guess it’s a good job that I’m not going to ever meet him” I laughed “now, excuse me, I’m gonna pack!”


	8. Sisters and Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of new characters are going to be introduced in this chapter.
> 
> Also, It seems like Luke has to have extra help with his magic contorl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the story picked up for me and I wrote like crazy XD

Today was the day, I was packed and ready to go. After two months, I would finally have a wardrobe and a bed. But, I guess those are the only positives. I will miss being able to have a relaxing bath and cuddling Athena. Oh yes, I’m rather attached to that cat and if I was being honest, to her human too. Hieronymous sure is something special. Oh sure, he hasn't been a saint to live with. I mean, I've lost count of how many times he's shouted at me. The toilet paper goes over and not under, clothes go in the washing basin and not hang on it. Books go back to their homes. The veranda doors aren't to be left slightly open for too long. My makeup stays in my bag and not out on the sink.   
However, no matter how he's snapped at me, I will kinda miss it here. I'll miss being able to have long relaxing baths, relaxing in front of a lovely burning fire while I draw or read. I'll miss Athena but most of all, I'll miss her human. I can't ignore the friendship that has grown between us. Either can I ignore the smiles that Hieronymous gives to me. The soft and gentle smile of friendship. Or how his eyes gleam whenever I smile.   
I just hope fate isn't going to decide to be a bitch and somehow destroy our friendship. 

"Are you sure that you have got everything?" Hieronymous asked once I pulled my bright yellow suitcase in front of him.   
"Positive" I smiled and with a nod Hieronymous teleported my suitcase to my new dorm room. Once that was done I shifted in place awkwardly. I had no idea how I'm going to leave things.   
"I've been thinking" Hieronymous said with an expression I couldn't read.   
"Oh?" I curiosity asked   
"After your first week of classes...If you wished to, I thought...Well" he paused there to huff in frustration. Whatever it was he was trying to say to me, it was clear that he had no idea how to say it. In reaction, I gave him a small smile, it was my patient smile. The smile I always pull whenever Charlie stutters too much whenever he's frustrated. It said, "take your time, I'm not going anywhere". 

"Perhapsyouwouldliketojoinmeforbreakfast" he said in one breath and at the speed of light. All I could do was blink stupidly at him for a whole two seconds before my smile grew. I knew not to snort, yes what he did was adorable but I knew he would take my snort the wrong way.   
Slowly, like if I was talking to a scared dog, I said:  
"Maybe you could repeat that?"  
The reaction I got was truly a sight.  
Hieronymous blushed furiously, his pale cheeks turning a hot pink.   
It was the most beautiful I've ever seen him. 

"I asked if you would like to join me for breakfast" he said after he cleared his throat and straighten his back. But all that did was make me smile widely at him. My heartwarming at the fact that he still wanted to spend some time with me.   
"Of course, I would like to. It'll make me very happy"  
"I do not expect you to join me everyday of course" Hieronymous sad still blushing furiously.   
"Of course not. I can't possibly get up at four in the morning on Saturdays" that got me an amused smile "and Sundays I go on a morning run. But I'm positive that I can join you for the rest of the week"  
"I do not want to drag you away from your other friends"  
"Nonsense" I said with a laugh and a dismissive wave of my hand. "They will see me for the rest of the day. Plus, they know I always make time for all of my friends"  
"Will they no judge you?"  
"No" I honestly said with a big smile "they're awesome friends who are happy if I'm happy and this will make me happy"  
"Why?" Hieronymous asked confusion clear on his face. "I'm not much company"  
"Good friends aren't the ones who talk but the ones who are there when you need them" I said "and you've always been there for me, in the shadows"

Hieronymous didn't say anything to that, he just looked away from me slightly blushing furiously. Petunia was right, Hieronymous Grabiner likes to be flattered. Though, he might not enjoy it when it causes him embarrassment.   
"I should go" I said knowing that me being here wasn't helping Hieronymous's embarrassment. However, he turned to me, his expression blank and his blush gone. The moment was clearly over.  
"Yes" he said pausing there to clear his throat. "Thank you again, I appreciate what you have done for me and I...I enjoyed your company"  
"Me too" I smiled resisting the urge to hug him. He wasn't Charlie, a friend who I could hug. 

With that in mind, I waved him goodbye and made my way to Wolf Hall. I walked slowly, I wasn't in a hurry. Once I entered the new doors of Wolf Hall which were a blinding orange with a golden wolf symbol. I noticed the new wood flooring and the warm orange on the walls. It seems like the redecoration was to simply make Wolf Hall orange. The dorm rooms door matched the entrance door. Even the floorboards were a sandy orange colour. For someone like me who didn't like the colour orange this was awful to look at.   
With a sigh, I followed the black numbers that were sat in the middle of the doors.   
One  
Two  
And three.

Room Three in Wolf Hall will be my second home this year. I'll be having tw0 roommates, struggle to move around in the tiny bathroom cubicles so much I'll get bruises, deal with sweaty, loud and overbearing boys.   
The joy...  
Sighing again, I entered room three and the first thing I realized was that I wasn't going to have two roommates.   
I was going to have three. 

I looked at the two bunk beds, one on opposite sides of the room. Next to the beds were two desks for one student. Between the beds were four tall wardrobes that had three draws at the bottom and a large cupboard at the top where you could hand up clothes.   
I've never noticed how big the dorm rooms of Irsh Academy are until now. 

The second thing I noticed was that Donald was sat on the top bunk of the bed on the right side of the room. On the bottom bunk, was an explosion of clothes and junk. He clearly hasn't cleaned up all his stuff yet. That of course, meant that I only had two beds to choose from. Not like I really cared. The free bunk bed was next to a window anyway. I decided to pick the bottom bunk even though the child within me wanted the top. But I knew I would prefer the bottom. It just meant that after a hard day at school I could collapse onto my bed, without the effort of climbing a ladder first. 

"Who's our other roommate?" I asked as I lifted my suitcase on to my new bed to click it open.   
"No clue" Donald answered before the sound of a page-turning in whatever magazine he was reading filled the room. "Potsdam just said I'll be sharing with you and that Neko"  
"His name is Charlie, Donald" I growled, already feeling protective of my smaller and quieter best friend. A trait that India and I share.   
"Maybe we don't have another roommate. I'm actually surprised to see you here" 

That made me pause in stacking jumpers and tops onto my bed and turn to him.  
"Why are you saying that?" I asked, not looking forward to the answer.   
"Well...You know...I thought that you were going to stay with Grabby"  
"And why would you think that?!"  
"Well...Everyone knows about your marriage and erm...Everyone's seen the way you make him smile...I thought since that was out there was no need for you to hide anymore"  
"Ugh! I've already told you, we're just friends!" I snapped throwing a jumper onto my bed in frustration.   
"That's not what other people are saying" Donald said but that was it, my anger flared and I swung around to face him   
"Well, it's what I'm saying! I'm going to be sharing a room with you and I'm going to make you smile! Will that mean I'm suddenly going to have sex with you too?!" I yelled in anger.   
It pisses me off how I can't be friends with whoever I want. That people always think that I'm some sort of player. That I will jump in anyone's bed. And it's all because I have the rarest looks.

Suddenly, I heard a mighty smash behind me. By Donald's shocked expression alone, I knew that I just smashed the window that was next to my bed...

...Ten minutes later...

Petunia Potsdam was humming while she was fixing the window I just accidentally smashed with my magic. Donald was sat next to me on the bottom bunk of the right-hand side. (We had to move some of his junk around to be able to sit on the bed)  
I had my head down and my hands folded in my lap, wondering how Hieronymous's dagger worthy glare wasn't burning me alive.   
"Twenty minutes, it only took you twenty minutes to start causing trouble" he angrily said, leaning on the door frame.  
"I didn't mean to" I muttered angrily. 

"How many times do I have to tell you to control your emotions?! You know your magic reacts to your anger!"  
"I know that!" I snapped glaring at him now "but it just happens, I get angry and then bang, somethings broken! It's not my fault I don't know how to make it stop"  
"What have I been teaching you these last months?! Have you already forgotten?!"  
"You've been teaching me how to use the magic whenever it flares and not how to stop it!" I yelled angrily and that made Hieronymous close his mouth. He knew that I was right and he knew not to say otherwise unless he wants the half fixed window to be broken again. 

"Well, that sorts things doesn't it?" Petunia cheerfully said like if she didn't just hear us shouting at each other. "Hieronymous, you will have to teach Luke how to fully control his large amount of magic...There we go!" Petunia smiled putting her wand into her green gipsy dress pocket.   
"What are we going to do in the meantime? We cannot risk him breaking things and being a danger to himself and other students" Hieronymous said now glaring at Petunia who turned to us.

"Oh, that's simple" she said with a laugh and a dismissive wave of her hand. It was like she was talking about the weather and not a student who was struggling to control magic.   
"Luke, give me your right hand, dear" she smiled and I did.

With her left hand, Petunia pulled out a gold band before slipping it over my hand. Once over my hand, the band tightened around my wrists until it couldn't fall off it.  
"Only take it off when you're practicing with Hieronymous. Until then, keep it on and it'll keep your magic under control"  
"So it's like the necklace?" I asked  
"Oh no, your necklace protects other magical cores from you and yours from others. This band absorbs your extra magic so you don't accidentally break anything" Petunia smiled, her eyes gleaming brightly but then her smile faded when she saw my expression.  
I was worried, surely it wasn’t normal for a student to need so many magical jewellery to protect them. Was there something wrong for me?   
“Don’t worry, buttercup” Petunia smiled letting go of my hand “having a strong core like yours is a gift”  
“I’ve already told him this” Hieronymous muttered still leaning on the door frame   
“Wonderful! Now that’s shorted I must go, Luke, don’t worry, you won’t be breaking anything with that band on your wrist” and with that Petunia went, humming happily. Nothing worries that woman, I swear.  
“Wear that band at all times, I will see you on the first of September” Hieronymous said before leaving himself.  
Once both professors were gone I could only sigh  
“Remind me not to piss you off” Donald teased which made me laugh and relax...

I spent the next day unpacking (I chose the wardrobe and desk next to my bunk bed) and planning what I was going to say to the twins. However, no amount of planning or speaking to my small mirror could actually prepare me. All I could do is just tell them my secret and hope that they won’t freak out too much......

....Skipping to 1st of September....

I’ve been keeping myself busy by making Hieronymous’s present perfect. But now, I’ve been pacing for what seems like hours, to say that I was nervous would be an understatement. I was dressed in my new school uniform. Gone was the old horrid grey robe that looked like a dress made by a blind person. Now, the uniform was actually a rather well fitted grey tunic which had stripes of two different shades of orange at the ends of the sleeves, with black trousers, an orange belt and a new orange cloak with a round golden button the size of a milk bottle lid with a dark orange wolf howling on it. New shoes were also provided. These shoes were grey with an orange underneath and orange laces and they even had a little heel! I prefer this new uniform so much, it actually shows off my slim figure and not make me look like a child who’s been stuffed into a black bag.   
“Where are you?!” I huffed in annoyance turning around to pace again, surely I didn’t arrive here this late! Or did I? I honestly don’t remember. With another huff, I turned to the main gates of Iris Academy just to see a very familiar dark blue van pull up. That made me hold my breath until I saw long curly bright lime green hair coming out from the van. Oh yes, that’s definitely mum, there was no way it wasn’t! I didn’t want for a single second. I bolted to the van as fast as I could   
“MUM!” I shouted in happiness and at once mum swung around, opened her arms and like I was seven again I ran into her arms and gave her a deadly squeeze. 

“Hey twin!” mum laughed happily as she crushed me against her. When we finally drew apart after three long minutes of hugging, mum cupped my cheeks. Her jewel blue eyes looking at mine before she gently stroked my right cheek before kissing me on the head  
“Mum please”   
“Sorry, sorry! I’m embarrassing you!” she laughing holding me at arm length. “But look at you! You look so beautiful”  
“He looks exactly the same as when he left” Kara huffed in annoyance dressed in the same uniform as me but her colour was dark purple. Oh, Kara’s been enrolled in Snake Hall. At that moment, I looked at Emily who was clearly a Butterfly. Maybe their Halls shouldn’t have surprised me as much as they did.  
“Hey guys” I smiled before I gave them a tight group hug, which was no doubt embarrassing to them. But come on, I’m their older brother. I’m meant to embarrass them! When the hug finished Kara frowned in confusion before she asked:  
“Who’s that?” pointing so I slowly turned around to see Hieronymous look away way to innocently before he hurried off.   
“Oh, that’s just Professor Grabiner” I said, regretting my words as soon as mum and Emily eyes gleamed and they smiled knowing smiles at each other.  
Oh no...  
“Oh, well...Professor Grabiner!” Mum suddenly shouted before walking towards Hieronymous, who froze in place.

Oh, this can’t end well! At that moment I wanted the ground to swallow me whole and by Kara’s face she wanted the same. I quickly hurried after mum who was now in front of a very confused Hieronymous with the twins following close behind me. It didn’t take long for us to stand behind mum.  
“Is there a problem Mrs Manchester?” Hieronymous asked in his rich British accent which made mum go bright red. Oh, I forgot...She has a thing for British accents.  
“I wanted to know how my son is doing since he had to come to this school a month earlier than usual” mum said with a polite smile “and it’s Mrs Little, dear”

“I apologize, and your son is one of the best students in his Hall. He is a dedicated student and a hard worker. Now, is that all you had need of me?” Hieronymous asked lifting an eyebrow at the end of his sentence. Mum only nodded so Hieronymous walked off, using his leg length to their full advantage. Suddenly, mum swung to me making me flinch before I saw her proud smile.  
“I see why you like him” she simply smiled  
“Ugh, mum! Can you not?!” Kara huffed  
“He has lovely eyes” Emily said with an awfully dreamy sigh  
“Don’t you start!”

“We’re only friends mum” I said with a smile before I pulled her into another hug “I missed you! I’ll write every month again”  
“Please do and make sure the twins do the same. Hearing from you makes my day” mum paused there to cup my cheeks again and look in my eyes “I’m so happy to see you like this, so confident, so handsome and so....Grown-up. You’ve got a big heart Luke, so do me a favor? Hurry up and get a boyfriend. See if that professor of yours is free sometime”  
“MUM!”  
“WHAT?!” mum laughed before she linked arms with Eric smiling innocently “age is just number”  
I heard Kara click her tongue while Emily had a fangirl smile on her face. Saying a final goodbye to Eric and mum, I slowly walked with the twins through the gates.  
“I’ll take you girls to Snake Hall first” I said before looking over to the twins who were taking in the stunning campus of Iris Academy “Where I um...I need to speak to you, there are a few things you should know”  
“Like what?” Emily asked in curiously   
"I'll tell you when we get to Kara's dorm room" 

Kara room was number eleven and it was thankfully empty. When the twins made themselves comfortable on one of the bottom bunks, I locked the door and slowly explained everything. I told them everything. About what happened in the mailroom, how I tried to outsmart the Manus to only be almost killed. My marriage and how very forced it was and how I didn't want any part of it but had no choice. I told them about how Hieronymous tried to threaten me to keep me under control. But I soon told them that I broke his spells and told him where to go. And then slowly, I told them what I've truly been during at school during the holidays. I told them how I got to know Hieronymous, how we became friends and how happy I was because of it. I then moved on to tell them about my three amazing best friends; Charlie, India and Keesha. All of who I loved dearly but I could happily say that India and Charlie have become like siblings to me. Finally, I told them about my jewellery that protects me. I didn't go into much detail, I just told them I had too much magic inside of me and the jewellery protected me and other people. 

When I finished the twins were obviously shocked and confused. It took them awhile to process everything but then Emily smiled brightly and Kara frowned. At that moment I knew. I knew they would recognize my smile when I talked about Hieronymous. It was almost as powerful as the one I pull when I talk of mum.  
"You love him" Emily said matter-of-factly and the only thing I could do was blush in agreement.   
"Jesus, only you would fall in love with someone who you were forced to marry." Kara muttered with a disgusted expression on her face.   
"No" Emily said pausing there to give me a long and hard look. This was the look she always gives me before she reads me like an open book. "He was in love with him before then"  
It was scary how she's always right after that look.  
"I was" I agreed "It was his eyes that I desired first but then I spoke to him after a candle booth and I fell deeper and now..."  
"Now you know him better you're sure that you love him" Emily said her smile growing wider by the second "this is so romantic!"  
"No its not!" Kara finally yelled "our brother is in love with a TEACHER. A teacher who is twice his age, old enough to be his father and probably is some kind of creep"  
"He's not a creep, Kara" Emily huffed "if he was he would have used his marriage to Luke to his advance"  
"What do you mean?" I asked suddenly confused which made Emily sit up straight.   
"Think about it" she said pausing there to lift her right hand index finger. "He got married to a boy who is classed as a rare beauty. A rare beauty who has loads of men trying to seduce him into bed. He could have told you that you had to have sex with him, that you had to obey him. That it was some type of magical rule but he didn't. He didn't choose to use you or take advantage. Instead, he made sure you knew the real rules and he respected you" Emily said.

All I could do was smile a large smile. The truth of her words warmed my heart like nothing before. Because she was right, of course, she was. All my life I've had men trying to groom and seduce me. All of them wanting my beauty and nothing more. But Hieronymous...He had a chance to play me, to use my body how he wished but he didn't. Unlike so many other men, he stopped and looked past my beauty. He actually takes time to know me, the real me. He enjoys my company, my intelligence, my kindness and just who I am. He hasn't told me to be something that I'm not. 

If I wasn't in love with Hieronymous Grabiner already, I certainly was now.

"I hate it when you have a point" Kara muttered with a huff still looking very disturbed by all of this. But then she looked at me with a serious expression "do other people know about all of this?"  
"They know about my marriage"  
"Yeah, but do they know WHY you're married?"  
"Um...No?" I awkwardly answered only realizing the mistake of that.  
"So they think that you married him out of love?!" Kara yelled in frustration "your sixteen!"  
"Seventeen" I corrected   
"Whatever! Why am I the only one freaking out about this?! You two can't honestly follow mums rule of love is love!"  
"I see why we can't" Emily said in a smooth voice completely ignoring her twin's frustration. "I'm sure that the magical world has its own rules about love"  
"It does" I said making the twins look at me "you can love whoever you want"  
"See!"  
"This is so wrong on so many levels" Kara muttered   
"Kara, your in Snake Hall-" "-well notice Sherlock-" "-Snake Hall girls often accept the unusual. They believe in so many things. In fact, girls from this Hall weren't mean to me when the secret got out. They just asked me genuine questions out of curiosity. If they didn't do that, they just left me to it...You may have to try to be more open-minded if you want to fit in"  
"Not about this I don't. I'm sorry but maybe you do love him and maybe he loves you back. But it's still wrong" Kara muttered crossing her arms over her chest. That was a clear "can we talk about something else now?" She could do without words.

Taking the hint, Emily looked to the ground before she looked up at me again.   
"Does he...Does he know about dad?" She slowly asked which caused Kara to glare at her.   
"No one knows" I said "and I don't want them to. That's my business. If anyone asks you, you know the answer"  
"That you were cut by our family dog, we know" Emily said before an awkward silence filled the room. After a few minutes of it, I decided to say:  
"Come on, I'll take you to your room. Number six in Butterfly Hall, right?"  
"Right" Emily smiled.

It didn't take long to drop Emily off at her room after I gave Kara a hug. When we got to her room, Emily smiled at me, her smile so similar to mums and said:  
"Don't worry too much about Kara. You know what's she's like with any mentions of love. Just follow your heart and be happy. Goodness knows you deserve it" and with that, she gave me a bone-crushing hug before entering her room. 

With the twins now safe in their rooms unpacking and meeting their roommates, I walked back to Wolf Hall. When I entered the hall I was welcomed with a rush of noise. Boys were laughing and shouting at each other, some were play fighting in the corridor while others talked to their friends outside room doors. The noise hurt my ears like always but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. So, I made my journey to my room hearing boys wolf whistle at me before their friend shut them up by reminding them of who I was. The new freshmen looked at me as if I had three heads. None of them have clearly seen a boy like me before. 

I really do hate being one in a thousand. 

When I entered my dorm room however, all my worries went away. As their in front of the wardrobe that was next to mine on the right, was a boy with familiar weet blond hair. I didn't wait. I rushed over to my best friend and hugged him from behind, crushing him to my chest.   
"I've missed you!" I loudly said with a huge smile tightening my hold around Charlie's waste.   
"I've m-missed you t-too" Charlie said patting my hands rather awkwardly. That made me let go off him at once and he sighed in relief. Yeah...I hugged him way to hard. But he turned to me with his familiar soft smile that always soothes me.   
"So, w-what trouble h-have you b-been up to?" He asked his two different coloured eyes gleaming brightly. Charlie had Heterochromia iridium a command trait in Neko's. His right eye was blue while his left was green. His hair was short and curly styled messily and his cat ears were small and adorable. He was an inch smaller than me and had a plaster one his nose and left cheek. Both of which covering birthmarks that are believed to be bad omens in Neko culture.   
"Well, where do I start?!" I laughed before I told Charlie everything. 

....Twenty minutes later....

Charlie and I were sat together on my bed, huddled closely together while I flipped through my drawings. Charlie was the only one (apart from my family) who I showed my drawings to. It was a little embarrassing how many times I've drawn Hieronymous. It was either him reading in a relaxed posture, his eyes or his elegant and long hands. But Athena was in there too! Plus birds and whatever else popped in my mind whenever I'm in the mood for drawing. Manly dragons, fairies, elves, flowers, stars and animals. Plus an adorable drawing of Charlie and India asleep on a bench together. 

Suddenly, we heard Donald's voice which made us both lookup.   
"And here we are, room three in Wolf Hall. I think our other two roommates should be in there by now. I'll introduce you! I'm sure that they will do all they can to make you feel comfortable" he said, talking so fast it was a miracle anyone could understand him. But then he opened the door and entered the room.   
"Great, you guys are here" he said while looking at Charlie and I with a strange expression. I knew why. Us being huddled together like this so close was normal for us but for Donald...it probably wasn't. That made me realize that I couldn't sneak into Charlie's bed after one of my terrible nightmares. We've never done anything. I just get so scared that I need some type of comfort. At home, I would sneak into Emily's bed, at school it was Charlie's. That may have to stop. God knows what Donald would think if he saw me in Charlie's bed.

"Our new roommate is here" Donald said still looking awfully awkward. It was like if he had just walked in on us snogging. Which will never happen since I loved Charlie like a brother. However, Donald opened the door to let our roommate walk into the room.  
When our roommate walked into the room, I would only gap like a fish.   
Our new roommate was simply gorgeous. He was tall and slender with a perfect face. A face with no freckles, spots, moles or even a scar. His eyes were breathtaking. Green fading into gold. Brilliant red wings that faded into orange fluttered behind his back in perfect harmony. His long golden hair was in a strong and tight plait over his left shoulder, with the most beautiful flowers attached to it. Behind his back, more golden hair hung loosely and strands of hair hung perfectly around his face. He wore a flower crown on top of his head made out of small pink flowers and his ears were long and pointy.

Our new roommate was a gorgeous elf.  
"Greetings" he said in a voice that was as soft as a feather. "My name is Avery, I am one of the four students that have been enrolled this year from The Outabeoneian Kingdom. This is the first time elves from my Kingdom have been enrolled in schools outside our lands...I am pleased to meet you all but I must inform you about something. I would appreciate it if you referred me as an eir. I was born as a female but I desire to be male. I am not yet old enough to remove my wings and be classed as a male. This, of course, means that I have the gentiles of a female. If anyone of you think that you will be uncomfortable with this, please tell me now" Avery paused there to wait for one of us to say something. I wasn't going to. I've been outnumbered by girls all my life and seen all that has to be seen. Seeing Avery walking around in the room without a top will be nothing new to me. It seems Charlie didn't have a problem either. Unlike me, he hasn't got any sisters but he has grown up with India. They've told me stories on how they used to share everything together, so Charlie is no doubt used to a girl being around to. So, it was Donald who awkwardly lifted his hand. Unlike Charlie and I, he hasn't shared a room with a girl before. 

"Um...Sorry, but I'd like it if...Well if you didn't, you know...Get dressed in the same room? I know that you're a dude but if you still got...Well you know" he paused there to gesture at his chest before cupping imaginary breasts before pointing at his pants to do a V shape with his fingers "I've been brought up to respect a ladies privacy if you know what I mean" 

"That I do, thank you for being honest" Avery said before looking at Charlie and me.   
"I've been outnumbered with sisters all my life so it wouldn't bother me" I said with a shrug   
"Or me" Charlie said "I've lost count how many times I've seen India naked"  
"I thank you" Avery said with another bow before looking at the two bunk beds. "Which bed is mine?"  
"That one" I answered pointing to the bunk bed on the left-hand side and the bed on top of mine.”   
"Wonderful, I had hoped to be above the ground. I am a Forest Elf you see and used to sleeping up trees. Who will I share this side of the room with?" At that moment I raised my hand and Avery smiled at me. "Would it be alright if I decorated our side with flowers? Not only will they make me feel at home. But they will also be wardens of bad dreams and provide luck, along with the most amazing smell."   
"I don't mind" I said with a shrug 

"Wonderful!" Avery happily said before E placed a small leather suitcase in front of Charlie and I and opening it.   
"Can I ask a question?" I asked  
"Of course, if you have any questions about my Kingdom or my species, feel free to ask. I will answer as best as I can, Ducris "  
Ducris?" I asked in confused while I watched Avery pull out a large chain of bluebells out E's suitcase from god knows where. 

"That is what we elves call those who have magic but are raised in the mundane world."  
"Oh...We call them Wildseeds here" I said watching Avery wrap the bluebells around the left pole of our bunk bed.   
"Strange...What is your question?"   
"Oh! Erm, you said that you were a Forest Elf"  
"That I did" Avery said pulling chain of lilies out of E's suitcase.   
"Are there different types of Elves?" I asked very carefully, I didn't want to insult Avery when I've just meet Em.   
"Oh yes. There are many types of us. There are Forest Elves like me. We communicate with the children of our mother. To the animals and plants. There are Ocean Elves, they communicate with water and the souls who live inside of it. Dark elves are those gifted with the knowledge of the stars. White Elves are those who communicate with the dead. Then there is the elder elf that is chosen by our mother to be her only voice and servant. It has always been a male elf who she saves from death and she chooses one every thousand years. They are also known as the Gifted because of how connected he is to our Mother. Finally, there is the Noble Elves. Those who are born with royal blood. They are trusted to run the entire Six Kingdoms in The Otherworld. Not only because they’re royals but because they are the strongest of us all” Avery explained finishing decorating the other pole of our bunk beds with the chain of lilies before moving to wrap Jasmine and Lavender around Eir’s wooden bed panels that will stop E from falling out of bed. 

“The other five kingdoms what are they called?”  
“The Tidrouria Kingdom the land of the Giants. Xugraiwen Kingdom the land of the dwarfs and trolls. Preadrovalon Kingdom the land of the sea creatures. Dririnad Kingdom ruled by vampires and then...Then it is The Exeoraniel Kingdom. That is...A wasteland where cursed creatures go like goblins, ghosts, Demons and Devils along with Dark Vampires...It is that Kingdom that declared war with the other five kingdoms seventeen years ago by almost destroying my homeland” Avery explained with a terribly painful sigh. 

I wasn’t going to ask any more questions, I was going to let Avery be with E’s thoughts, Donald, however, didn’t do that:  
“Sooo, what’s this Mother of yours?” he asked and no joke Avery looked at him with a clear disgusted expression.   
“That you should know” Avery hissed but Donald blinked blankly, he clearly didn’t know. “Our Mother, is The Mother Tree. She is the reason magic runs through our veins. She keeps watch of all our magical cores in The Pandora Dimension” Avery said like if E was talking to a very small and dumb child.   
“I was told she also creates magic” I said confused  
“That she does, her roots run between the two worlds” Avery said with a small nod before glaring at Donald who was clearly still very confused.   
After that, none of us asked Avery any more questions...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was only when I replayed the game that I realized that MC's bedroom in Horse Hall was room three too...Opps  
Also, if your wondering about the Seven Kingdoms of the Otherworld more will be explained, I promise ^_^


	9. New Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are some new things every student should know about...  
I basically made Iris a little bit better with more rules and professors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has read my old story some of this will look awfully familure to you and that's because I copied some scense over to this story. HOWEVER, please do still read this chapter!!

....The next day....

I woke up in the morning feeling terribly rested, it was the best sleep I had for two months! I seriously missed sleeping in a bed! Once showered and fully awake I got dressed in my school uniform and put on some makeup with Avery beside me. Avery was placing flowers in Eir’s plaited hair. The flowers were truly stunning. Dark wine red, brilliant bright strawberry red, pink, white and purple.   
“Is it a tradition for Forest Elves to wear flowers in one's hair?” I asked in curiosity  
“It is, we like to be one with the world around us, but we do not wear any blue or black flowers unless given. This is because blue flowers are a sign of beauty and black means death. If you are given a death flower it means that you have been tied to a destiny that will lead to your death...Our Mother can give many wonders but she can also give many horrors”

Yeah, I didn’t know what the hell to say to that so I asked another question:  
“Do the colours of your flowers mean anything?”  
“Red means fertility, all female Forest Elves must wear them even if they wish to become male. Pink means that I have been accepted in my community and purple are to attract luck” Avery explained   
“What about green? Don’t you were any green flowers like leaves or something?”  
“We wear green on our robes, not in our hair”  
“Oh...What about White?”  
“A traditional sign that I have not found a soul that makes my heart sing when I do, it is a tradition for me to past my white flowers onto them. If who I desire accepts my flowers they will wear them. If they deny my flowers they will change one into grey and return it to me”  
“Do you have to wear that? The grey flower I mean”  
“I do not” Avery said placing Eir’s flower crown on top of E’s head, wings fluttering behind Eir’s back. 

“Luke, a-are you r-ready to g-go?” Charlie asked “t-there’s an a-assembly at e-eleven”   
“Of course, I’m starving! Do you want to join us Avery?”  
“If you would allow”  
“Of course! We’ll introduce you to the girls!” I smiled widely and with that, we left our dorm room to go down to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was on the ground floor in the same building as the boy dorms on the right-hand side of the main courtyard. It went cafeteria, Toad Hall, Falcon Hall and then Wolf Hall right on the fourth floor. The stairs to the boy dorms were behind black doors next to the cafeterias. Next to the cafeteria was the gym.   
“Charlie! Luke! Over here!” shouted India’s voice once we got close enough to the cafeterias doors. Charlie and I both smiled widely when we saw our two female best friends. India Green and Keesha Jones. India was in Butterfly Hall and she was the most stunning female Neko in the entire hall. She had bright Ocean blue eyes that matched my own, white fluffy cat ears, long and curly bright dyed lime green hair with bright pink highlights. Her hair fell over her left shoulder and behind her back in perfect waves. She was well curved with perfect birthing hips and a well defend chest. Her skin was perfect, with no freckles, spots, scars or warts. Whenever she is, India somehow looked like she was glowing in the light. This girl needed no makeup to be stunning.  
Next to her was Keesha from Horse Hall. She had lovely freckles on her cheeks, shy blue eyes that were almost white, yet black hair that had faded red highlights whenever the sun touched it with a white plait holding her hair back away from her eyes, wearing a pink headband behind her dog ears. Keesha was well form too, she had curves to die for but a flatter chest than India. She had strong arms and a firm chest and powerful legs that a champion runner would be proud of. 

Once close enough, we all pulled each other into a bone-crushing group hug. We all missed each other terribly over the summer holiday.   
“Who’s this?” India asked once out of the hug to hold her hand out to Avery “I’m India and this is Keesha”  
“Hey” Keesha said with a friendly smile and wave  
“My name is Avery” Avery smiled before he looked over to Charlie and I and it was only then that I realized we haven’t said our names yet.  
“Have these idiots forgotten to tell you their names?” India laughed before she wrapped both of her arms around mine and Charlie’s shoulders to pull us close to her “this one’s Charlie” she said pausing there to tap Charlie on the shoulder “and this is Luke”   
“They’ll the dumbest smartest boys you’ve ever known” Keesha laughed behind India   
“If you’re ever stuck with anything just come and find one of us” India smiled at Avery who nodded at her.  
“Now come on! I’m hungry!” India said letting go of Charlie and me. 

Together, we walked into the cafeteria just to see that has been redecorated too. Gone were the white tables and chairs. Now there were six rows of wooden tables with different coloured chairs. The colours of the chairs were the different colours of the six halls.   
“Oh” Keesha sounded beside me “does this mean we have to sit in halls now?”  
“No, look” India said before pointing at a toad table which had Falcons, Snakes and Toads sat on its chairs “This must only be for assemblies”  
“Welp!” I said awfully loudly “it's tuff if it isn’t because I’m going to sit with you guys anyways”  
“Aww, we feel loved” Keesha and India teased me at the same time which made them both giggle before they both hurried off to pick our seats. India dragging Avery by the wrist while doing so. Charlie and I could only laugh at them. They’re both full of so much energy and they got on like a house on fire. It was one of those friendships that no one knows when it started or who talked to who first. It just worked and they were both happy.

After we had our breakfast it was soon time for the assembly. We all said “see you later” before moving to our own Hall tables. Wolf Hall tables were next to Falcon and Toad Hall tables and soon enough they all filled with students.  
“Attention please!” Petunia Potsdam’s voice suddenly rang out as loud as a bell that silence the now full and nosy cafeteria as all the students looked at her as one. She was stood in front of a large wooden table that was covered in a white table cloth which had eleven seats.  
“I wish to welcome the new and old students to Irish Academy! A place of education for those who are gifted with magic. We all have had magic flowing in our blood, but some learnt this sooner than others. Either you were born or gifted with magic it doesn’t matter here! We professors will do our best to educate you. To those students who are returning to this school, I wish to congratulate you for taking another step to a great future!~ The magical world is a wonderful place however, please remember, that it also has its dangers. The professors can’t always protect you! However, I’m afraid I can’t simply go on with these wonderful greetings, my darlings. As this school has been blessed with four transfer students, from The Outabeoneian Kingdom. A Kingdom built for many magical beings. Elves, winged horses, dragons and dragon-kins, unicorns, fish with wings and all sorts of wonderful beings! It is a kingdom built with its many traditions, traditions that all years will now be learning. This is because this school hopes to expand in the future to accept elves, dragon-kin’s and many more wonderful magical beings. Now, please, welcome the new students and one of their professors!” Petunia stopped there to gesture at the main doors of the cafeteria.

Suddenly, a tall female elf that was made taller by her heels walked in. She wore a long-sleeved dark purple dress that matched her dark red hair that was in a high and tight bun. She had dark green eyes, an upturned nose and she moved with just grace and elegance. Behind her was Avery smiling confidently. Behind Em was a strong looking dragon-like highbred. He stood and walked like a human but had the features of a dragon. He had dark red scales with hints of gold and blue. His eyes were ice blue and his horns were dark gold. To me, it was odd seeing a “being” like him dressed in the school uniform, he looked like he could be a warrior dressed in the best amour. I was a little confused on why he was in Falcon Hall and not Wolf Hall though. Close behind what I could tell was obviously the dragon-kin were two clear elf females. One of the girls looked like if she just walked out from the sea as she had seashells, pearls, and starfish in her hair. Her light purple hair was just past her shoulders and unlike Avery or the other elf she had gills and fish like ears. She had seaweed green eyes and she wore purple lipstick and pink eye-shadow. She also had glitter on her hair and face with blue and pink painted bubbles on her face. The water Elf was closer to the dragon-kin than anyone else. The other female elf was just behind the water elf. She had light grey skin, with the typical pointed ears of an elf. Like Avery she had wings though hers were light purple with white spots and even lighter purple lines that drew random designs on her wings. She had dark purple eyes and hair with dark purple face pant of lines that matched her wings. On her neck she wore a dark purple necklace of a dragon. She also wore dark purple lipstick but had no eyeshadow. 

All five of the newcomers stood in front of the cafeteria, to my shock it was the male Dragon-kin that spoke first:  
“Greetings, my human name is Kiba and I am the protector of the elf students. I am a Dragon-kin and like my cousin the dragon I am powerful and can be deadly. My sore purpose in life is to protect these elves. That, of course, means I will fight anyone who dares touch them. Cordella is an Ocean Elf she cannot be touch by ground walkers or she will be burnt. So I will stop anyone from touching her. Thea is a Moon Elf she is not meant to be touch by no other than her mate. Then there is Avery...Eir is a forest elf but until E is fully male E is under my protection, however, anyone can touch E if given permission but not in a sexual way. Hurt one of these elves and I will hurt you, enough said”

Both Cordella and Thea looked really pleased Kiba said that, Avery however, looked pissed.  
“Enough Kiba” the elder Elf woman hissed, her voice had that effect that demanded respect. “Greetings” she smiled turning to all of us now “My name is Professor Virrel, I will be teaching Magical Traditions and Magical Law for Sophomores and up. Like Kiba has already explained he is the protector of the young elves but he is not mine. I can look after myself I assure you. So please, I will repeat Kiba’s words. Do not touch Thea or Cordella unless you want to suffer Kiba’s overprotectiveness and believe me you don’t! That male can leave nasty burns!”

“Now, now!” Petunia laughed clapping her hands noticing the panic reactions some of the students were having with the threat of being attacked by a Dragon-kin. “I’m sure you can still be friends with the two girls, just remember their ways. Bow in greeting and bow goodbye and keep your hands to yourself! Apart from that please enjoy the company of these wonderful new students and professor! Now please, sit...Kiba you can take the girls to the table at the back” Petunia quickly added on. Professor Virrel joined the professor table while Cordella and Thea followed Kiba to the table at the back. Avery however, joined the Wolf Table which earned a glare from Kiba for an unknown reason. 

“Now then, with that over and done with, I’ll allow the other professors to come in” Petunia laughed and with that Hieronymous walked into the room and lead a bunch of adults to the large white table in front of the whole student population. It didn’t take me long to figure out that all these adults were professors. Nine of which I’ve never seen before! 

“Now, we’re not only are we welcoming Professor Virrel as a new professor, we are also welcoming Professor Hatebreed” she paused there to gesture to a young male professor who stood up. He had pitch-black messy hair that was to his strong jaw. It was like a mop of hair. His left eye was green while his right was gold. He wasn’t what I would call drop dead gorgeous but he wasn’t bad looking. He was dressed in black teacher’s robes that were well-fitted to his tall and skinny body. By the look of him, he was tall like Hieronymous. His black hat was strangely like Hieronymous’s too, the only difference was the golden hopes, keys and random little keyrings he had attached to it.   
“I will be teaching the Junior and Senior Blue and White Magic” Hatebreed said in a clear American accent, it was almost like mine. Once he sat down Petunia gestured to a young woman who had Ginger hair, green eyes, had freckles and was wearing a stunning white witches robe. Her name was Professor Jackson and she was going to teach the Freshmen Green Magic and Basic Magical Traditions and Law.

Once Professor Jackson sat down Petunia started to speak:  
“Freshmen will now also take Magical creatures, after a certain...circumstances last year” I sunk in my chair when I felt eyes go onto me, oh yes, we all know what Petunia was talking about! “Now, would all freshmen go with Professor Jones, she will inform you on certain topics. Juniors and Seniors you may leave but sophomores please stay” 

Everyone hurried to do as ordered and when there were only eighty of us left Petunia started to speak once again  
“First of all, I wish to thank you. Only ten students were expelled last year” Only ten?? “Five less than last year. We, professors, hope to reduce that number even more until it goes down to three a year and no, only two of those dears were Wildseeds!” Petunia stopped there to directly point a glare at four Falcon boys who went deadly pale “Now, where was I? Oh yes! The sweet, sweet rumour of there being no exams in this school is in fact true. However, there is coursework for all subjects. The coursework will help towards a wonderful and hopefully successful career. Anyways, myself and the deputy head” she paused there to gesture to Hieronymous which the other students whispered in shock at. I, however, smiled at the fact they got to know his proper title finally “have decided to add Potions, Herbology, Magical law, creatures and traditions, Mental Magic and Otherworld Studies to this year. Otherworld Studies, magical traditions, and law will be added to the freshmen timetable to get the needed knowledge. Now, with all that over with there are still a few things to discuss but I will leave that to the other professors. So please, Butterflies and Wolves please go with Professor Grabiner. Toed and Snakes go with Professor Rickman” Petunia stopped there to gesture to the professor with the stunning white feather wings “Falcons and Horses go with Professor Hatebreed” there she gestured to a stunning young man with bright blond hair and the most stunning purples eyes I’ve ever seen. Before she skipped-I’m not even joking-out of the room. 

Loud whispered filled the large room until a loud thud of hands meeting table made everyone glance back to the main table again to look at a glaring Hieronymous. I felt a bit guilty for whispering to Charlie but all I said was “this is so interesting!”  
“You heard the headmistress! Get going! Toads and Snakes go to the Green Magic classroom, Horses and Falcons off to the Red Magic classroom! Butterflies and Wolves come with me to the Blue Magic classroom! Don’t bother wasting any of our time so get moving!” and with that Hieronymous stood up and with a dramatic flip of his cloak, he stormed out of the room. At once students quickly went where they needed to go. The rest of the professors laughed and complimented the way Hieronymous could get the students moving like frightened deer. When I stood up I noticed Professor Rickman and Hatebreed look at me. I politely smiled at them before hurrying off with Charlie and Donald to get to the Blue Magic classroom. On the way, India court up with us and linked arms with Charlie and me.  
“I wonder what this is about? Hey, do you think there is going to be new rules?” she said with a smile.  
“Ugh! I hope not!” Donald muttered dragging his feet but then we all stood out of the Blue Magic classroom where the classroom door swung open

“Come!” Hieronymous shouted loudly and students quickly walked into the room, however, when I was about to go into the room a hand suddenly held my arm and a girl’s bitter voice whispered in my ear:  
“How many times has he ordered you to do that?” the voice said but I knew who’s voice that was...That was Sara Kirsch, Angela’s younger sister, I’m not shocked that she’s trying to be just like her bitchy sister. Well, just like her sister Sara will be hated and have fake friends. So the laughs are on her!

With a smile on my face, not caring what that bitch just said to me, I sat between India and Charlie. Donald and Avery were sat behind us but I was shocked when I saw Kiba walk in with Cordella.   
“Hey, what are you doing here lizard? You’re not a wolf!” one wolf boy hissed angrily who I knew as James...I knew that only because it’s pretty easy to know some names and faces within your own Hall.   
“Thank you for pointing out the obvious Mr Hills” Hieronymous said as he closed the classroom door and walked in front of the chalkboard. “However, as Cordella’s protector, Kiba must be with her the entire time. So get used to it wolves, you will have a falcon within your pack. Now, will you all allow me to speak so we can get through this blasted meeting?”

The only answer Hieronymous got to that question was deadly silence which made him smirk his iconic sarcastic smirk  
“Good...Now, the headmistress and I have decided to give each student a work diary” at that moment Hieronymous paused there to pull out his wand out of his belt holder to wave it around in a way I still needed to learn. Suddenly, the cabinets behind the tables flew open and books slammed onto everyone’s desk. Curious, I looked down to mine and read  
“Property of Luke Grabiner, can only be opened by his hands”  
At that moment I opened it but the book just slammed close again  
“Did I tell you to open your journals?!” Hieronymous’s voice yelled loudly like a bell making me jump three feet in my chair which caused me to hit my knees under the table and it freaking hurt. 

I slightly looked at India on my left side and she looked a bit guilty, ah, I’m glad that I’m not the only one who took a peek  
“These books have your timetables and like I explained before a diary. These will be useful when you start getting your coursework. Coursework is to broaden your knowledge, to enhance your skill by a way of self-studying and researching. You will be expected to write essays on the subjects your professors deem necessary. Of course, you will get timelines to complete this work, no matter what grade you’re getting. Coursework will also be marked the three times and no more has this gives you the chance to fix all your mistakes not once but twice. The headmistress hasn’t bothered to tell you the grading system so I am forced to do so. An O means outstanding and it is only earned by those of you who fully understand the work handed to them. An E is excellent, an A is acceptable and you all should know that an F means fail. The Coursework is section off into three different grading criteria. A student who wishes to only earn an A only does what is needed for the Pass criteria. A student wishing to earn an E in Eir’s coursework must do both the Pass and Merit. An O student, however, must do both of those criteria along with the distinction work. Keep in mind that you only have to get an O for three different colours of magic in the Penrachromatic System.” He paused there to have a quick breather. This is honestly the longest time he’s spoken in any class.

“Now, with that over with let me explain the new rules...Don’t make that face Mr Danson! It is because of students like you the rules had to be changed so much! All students are expected to be in dorm rooms-doesn’t matter if it is their own-by nine o’clock. Student’s court passed this hour without a curfew pass written by a professor's hand will get automatic detention and do not be stupid enough to believe we will be fooled! All students are expected to go to all lessons unless they are ill! If you are ill enough to be out of class then you must report to the infirmary if you do not then you will be questioned if you pull a “sicky” more than three times then you will get a warning. Students mustn’t get more than twelve detentions if they do well, they will be expelled...Students who fail to hand in uncompleted coursework more than five times will be expelled. However, hand in coursework late then you will receive a detection, after four late submissions you will be questioned. If a professor thinks you are struggling with the grade your trying to reach then they will drop you down a grade. This does not include pass grade students! If you are a pass grade student dropped or natural and are handing work late more than three times then you will be expelled. There is no reason whatsoever for you to hand in your work late...After all, you are here to learn and if you do not bother to complete work then why should we professors bother teaching you? Also, the age of consent sex” I totally shivered at the way Hieronymous said “sex” it sounded so seductive coming out of his mouth “has gone up to seventeen, so those who are still sixteen must wait. And believe me, you cannot hide. All of the boy and girl dorms, bathrooms, gym, and even classrooms have been charmed to not allow underage students into the room unless there is a professor around. So getting an older student to allow you into a room for a “quick sag”“ oh god, Hieronymous stop with these dirty words! “Will not work! Students who are seen in the act of sex, who are under the age of seventeen will be expelled. Those of age, however, will get a detention. You all should know to keep just passionate acts in the privacy of dorm rooms away from innocent eyes. The age of marriage is still seventeen a-” “Wait, if the age of marriage is seventeen, then why could you marry apple head over there?” A girl suddenly asked daring to interrupt Hieronymous.  
“My name is Luke” I hissed  
“Our marriage is in name only to save his life nothing more. It wasn’t about love, it was about saving his life by trying him to my family name” he explained making me sigh. I knew it was right but it sounds so horrible when said like that. That he only married me to save my life, I guess that is why he wanted to stay friends “Now, where was I?”  
“You were explaining the new rules, sir” Minnie’s voice said, I didn’t bother looking towards her, I’m still pissed at her.

“Ah, yes, school uniforms are no longer required over the holidays or after school hours. You may have badges, flowers and the like on your robes, scarfs are allowed as well as long you remove them in any physical classes. Makeup, like always must be natural looking so no bright red lipstick, no bright pink cheeks, pastel and natural colours only. Those of age must get protection, females and homosexual males must get an implant if they are having sex” when Hieronymous said that I held my hand up which made everyone-yes everyone!-look at me.  
“You have a question Mr Grabiner?” Hieronymous asked and I tried not to flinch at that name, it’s the first time he’s called me that!  
“Yes, sir, why do homosexual boys need an implant? It’s not like we can get pregnant” I asked laughing as other boys laughed their agreement too.

“Ah, Wildseeds may not know this but male pregnancy is as natural as female pregnancy”  
“What?!” me and four other boys sounded in shock together, seriously why weren’t we told this last year?!  
“Even in Wildseeds?” I asked  
“Even in Wildseeds...However, you need a strong bond with your lover so homosexual boys who are just having sex because of the sake of it, without love, don’t need an implant. Those who are having sex with love, however, need an implant. Love is the most powerful thing in the world and all it needs to get a male pregnant is the slightest wish of children. You may think that having sex with love will be alright without an implant as long as you don’t think of children. However, even as young and hormonal as you all are, all men desire children with the one they truly love. It is natural, a fault we cannot fight. More will be explained in your Green Magic class”

“But sir, what if we want to...You know...Before then?” asked a boy I didn’t know, I seriously need to get to know the boys in my Hall  
“Your first Green Magic class is” Hieronymous paused there to look down on his desk where a spare student journal was sat open on the first page “tomorrow, I’m sure you can keep it in your pants till then...Anyways, the rules are there for a reason, do your best to follow them and if you do you may be sat here next year...Now, for this week alone you are required to go to every class but after that, you can do whatever you like...And that concludes our little chat” Hieronymous said finishing his speech with a smirk before he walked to the door and opened it.  
No one waited, everyone picked up their journals and hurried out of the class. 

However, when I went to leave I was stopped by:  
“Not you Mr Grabiner”   
That made my friends look over to me in both confusion and curiously, I smiled at them in response. They knew the smile. They knew it meant I will tell them later so they left the room. However, I glared at Sara when she winked at me. Can’t that girl get a life already?!   
With an annoyed huff, I walked to Hieronymous’s desk.   
“You wanted to speak to me, sir?” I asked with a small polite smile, wondering what he wanted.  
"That is obvious" Hieronymous muttered a frown on his face and in an annoyed tone. That just made me change my smile to a patient one. I couldn't miss how frustrated he was. He seriously didn't want to give that speech and now he's grumpy because of it.   
"As you know, we must partake in extra lessons together. This cannot wait. I can't possibly allow you to walk around with a protect band on your wrist like a clueless child. That is why I decided we begin your lessons after classes every Wednesday. That is until you choose which club you wish to join. If the club you wish to join clashes with our lessons, we will change the day. I do not wish to put limits on your social life" he said and I knew there was a compliment hidden somewhere in his words.   
There always is.

"Yes sir, I'll look forward to it" I smiled   
"Of course you would" Hieronymous said with a roll of his eyes before he looked at me in silence for an awful long time before saying:  
"I think your magic runs better above ground than it does in the dungeons. This would not surprise me...Meet me at the main gate on Wednesday, we will go into the forest to practice your control"  
"Um...Isn't that a terrible idea? I don't want to accidentally burn down an entire forest" I said shifting in place uncomfortably.   
"We will be practicing in a field under powerful Shields that I-a highly skilled wizard- have made"  
"And your sure that I won't be able to break those Shields? I've broken many of your spells before" I said.

"I am aware" Hieronymous said very slowly his upper lip twitching in annoyance. Yeah, he's not pleased that a Wildseed Shomporer student can break his spells. "However, you've never been able to break my Blue Magic spells" this was true, I've lost how many times Hieronymous has made me sick by teleporting me around him, like if he was spinning a hola hoop around his waist. "If you did I would be a pile of ash on the floor by now" he continued but that made me twitch. He was right, of course. My magic has reflected many powerful Red Magic spells back to him and his magic has protected him from it.   
"I will see you tomorrow” Hieronymous said with a nod before sat down at his desk. That was a dismissal if I ever saw one.  
“See you tomorrow!” I happily said before walking out of the room to go to my dorm room where a very confused Avery was waiting for me. Oh right, E doesn’t know about my marriage   
“Father or husband?” Avery asked straight away  
“accidental husband” I answered honestly but that made Avery look at me with an expression I couldn’t read. I just shrugged it off though, who knows what goes through E’s mind. I smiled at Avery before getting my awesome dragon bag ready for tomorrow. I couldn’t wait for my new lessons!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the Elves and Kiba won't be in this story much but they do have a reason of being here.


	10. Sparks of powerful magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some extra information that is needed to be known will be explained to Luke. He will learn more about about the Vevelt curtain and the Seven Kingdoms of the Otherworld.  
Plus, he and Grabiner have their first duel...

I woke up feeling super energised! I had three new lessons to look forward to, today! Magical History, Spell Practice, and Otherworld Studies. Out of those three, though, I am the most nervous about Spell Practice. I’m hoping that my new golden band on my wrist keeps my magic in check like Petunia said it would.   
“Do you think the lessons will be interesting this year?” I said once I was sat down at a table in the cafeteria with my three best friends.   
“I hope so,” India said before she huffed “I just can’t believe that they only decided to teach Freshmen law and history! You think they would have done that already! And don’t get me started about Magical creatures! If you had that then you would have known what to do about that Manus last year!”  
“I know” I said with a sigh, I was rather annoyed about that myself, in fact, a lot of things about this school annoys me!

Talking about annoyances, it seems that Sara Kirsch’s little group is now back together again and by the looks of things all three of them were walking towards me. Oh great, what do these petty girls want with me now? Once she was close enough Sara sat down beside me which made India sit up straight and glare at the redhead.   
“And what do I owe this pleasure?” I asked sarcastically leaning my chin on my right hand noticing how Sara’s bright purple eye shadow clashed horribly with her green eyes.   
“We just heard some juicy news” Honey purred, she was the prettiest one out of the group, blonde hair that was in a high bun, light blue eyes with perfect golden eye shadow, thin as a stick and as flat as an Ironing board.  
“Heard you stayed with your hubby for two whole months” Jane said, now Jane, she wasn’t the worst in the little group, she was just one of those girls who like to gossip, she doesn’t aim to insult anyone because she has nothing better to do in her life unlike the other two.  
“I think you’ve gotten a bit slow, Sara” I said flipping my hair as I did so “if you only learnt about that now”  
“So you don’t deny it, then?” she asked with a smug smirk  
“No, I don’t”  
“I knew you were sleeping with Grabby! My sister was right! She knew that’s how you earned your grades!”  
“Oh please!” I laughed with a snort “I get my grades because I open something called a book, you know, those things that are made out of paper? You see them in something called a Library? Your sister would have known that if she spent more than a second in one of them” here I paused to stand up “now if you excuse me, ladies, me and my friends have to go to our first lesson” I said with a smile before I walked away with my three friends hurrying behind me.

Once in the courtyard away from the three “It” girls, India walked beside me  
“You handled that better than I ever could. Don’t they make you angry?”   
“No” I laughed “I just think it’s funny how they expect me to care what they think about me. If I wanted everyone to like me then I wouldn’t be who I am”   
It was basically true, I’ve never taken anything to heart when people try and insult me, I am who I am and if you don’t like it, then go away and leave me alone. Sadly, Sara and her two (fake) friends haven’t got that message yet. Maybe they will get bored once I ignore them enough, who knows. I’m not going to worry about it.  
“Anyway, our first class of the year is Green Magic, isn’t it? Where is the classroom again?”  
“Honestly, you would get lost without me” India teased “follow me”  
The Green Magic classroom ended up being in the building next to the new school's reception on the right. All the classroom’s in Iris Academy were set up the same. Three rows of four tables behind a row of three tables, all in front of a large blackboard were a new professor was stood. I was honestly surprised to not see Petunia stood in front of the room. While I followed India to the third row of tables, I took a good look at our new Professor. She was a Neko with Royal Blue hair which covered her shoulders, her cat ears were the same colour as her medium length hair. She wore a dark green sleeved dress that was covered in dry mud at the bottom with dark brown gardening gloves covering her hands, on her feet she wore, what were clearly waterproof boots. On her head sat a dark green witches hat that had plants growing around the edges of it. What type of plants they were, I didn’t know. 

Slowly, I sat beside Charlie feeling sad that Keesha wasn’t joining us for classes anymore. How are we going to find any time to spend with her if we have different classes? Why couldn’t it be three Halls for each class? Once everyone was sat down the new Professor stood in front of the blackboard and wrote her name down in a very neat writing style.   
Professor Jones, it said...Yeah, that made me think of that Doctor Jones song by Aqua, straight away.  
“Good Morning students, I’m Professor H Jones and I will be teaching you both Green Magic and Herbology this year. However, I will let you know now that you shouldn’t get the idea that those two have things in common. This year Herbology will be based on plants and the magic that can be used with them. Magic can heal, destroy, create and connect with the flora and foliage. In Green Magic, however, you will learn Magic that drives into healing, strength, the body and the Magic that affects the Environment” 

Professor Jones paused talking to pull her wand from where it was behind her ear like a pen, to wave it towards her desk. We all watched bright neon green books hover and fall on every desk in front of every student.  
“These are your workbooks, use them for your notes. It does not matter how you do your notes as long as you can understand them. So let’s begin our first lesson shall we?” Professor Jones smiled making me straighten in my chair.  
“Today, I thought we could start on improving the heal spell you learnt last year. Now, I don’t want anyone of you hurting yourselves to do this, so I will teach you only the incantation and wand movements just without wands!~ Yes, student, you have a question?”  
At that moment I looked over my shoulder to a brunette girl from Butterfly Hall holding her hand up.  
“Professor, if we’re not using our wands, how do we know if we can perform the spell? Surely, you don’t want us to wait until someone actually gets hurt to practice that spell”  
“Of course not! There is another way one can tell if they can perform a certain spell, does anyone know how?” Professor Jones said before her eyes looked around the room.

I waited a couple of seconds until it became clear that no one else was going to answer the question so I raised my hand.  
“By feeling the magical energy of the spell within our cores” I answered   
“Exactly! Can anyone else tell me what a magical core is?”  
“It is like our souls” Minnie Cochran answered “it is within us, a part of us. We can find and connect to our cores through The Pandora Dimension”   
“The what?” I heard Donald say from behind me  
“You will learn of The Pandora Dimension in your White Magic class”  
“Wait, isn’t it under Green Magic?” India asked in confusion beside Charlie, sat next to a window because us boys can’t. I would get distracted and Charlie will get bothered by the warmth caused by the sun.   
“The Pandora Dimension is a dimension of the soul. Now, enough of that! Watch me closely, now, I’m going to teach you all a simple spell that will fix small bones”

\---------------------------

When the lesson was finished I felt confident that I could treat a broken nose, toe and finger. I may not actually casted the spell but I knew all the words and moves of the incantation perfectly. That didn’t shock me, Green Magic is one of my best lessons after Blue and Red.   
“Magical history, next” India said looking down at her schedule as she walked between Charlie and me  
“It’s about time we learned some history...Oh! Luke, it says here history is in the Blue Magic class. Looks like we’ve got Professor Grabiner today”  
“I didn’t know he teaches history as well as Blue and Red Magic” I said looking down at her schedule in her hands but she was right, history was indeed in Hieronymous’s Blue Magic room and I knew for sure Hieronymous wasn’t the type of man to share his things. Definitely not his classroom! He snapped at me whenever I put down any of his books in the wrong place when I stayed with him over those two months! Goodness knows what he’ll be like if the other professors dared to misplace one of the many books that were sat on the bookshelves in his classroom!

When we entered the Blue Magic classroom, the other students pushed and shoved to quickly pick the tables at the back. It was clear no one wanted to sit in the front in Hieronymous’s classroom. If you sit in the front you’re signing yourself a guarantee to be called upon regularly and no one was crazy enough to do that! Well...All but one person was crazy enough to do that and his name was Donald Danson. He was already sat right in the middle of the three front tables looking smug. No doubt he wanted to annoy Hieronymous by doing this. I decided to sit beside him as the other unlucky few were forced to sit in the front as well. Silence filled the room as Hieronymous’s dark eyes looked around the room from where he was sat behind his desk in the corner, with a loud sigh, he snapped his large red record book close, placed it on his desk and moved to stand in front of the blackboard.  
“There is no need for me to introduce myself, I doubt that any of you don’t know who I am. In this classroom, you will obviously learn history. Today, you’re going to learn the most important thing in history” he paused there to turn and write on the blackboard in his neat, wavy, script-like writing style, each word joining together like perfect lines. Damn, I wish I could write like that! It’s so elegant. When Hieronymous stood away from his writing I saw:  
“The creation of the Velvet Curtain”   
Oh, this is going to be interesting!

“The Velvet Curtain, it is the magic that separates the Magical world from the Mundane world. Sometimes it surrounds magical villages and cities and even buildings like the school, to keep mundane souls away. However, it has not always been like this. Over a thousand years ago the magical and non-magical lived as one. It was a disaster. Magic was feared and hated, classed as gifts from the Devil himself. After a few generations, the high council finally decided to separate the two worlds. To provide peace. That is when the Circle of Twelve was created. Twelve powerful wizards and witches of many different species came together to form a plan. They decided to create the Velvet Curtain. A powerful White Magic spell that keeps the non-magical at ease. They take no interest in magic. They believe it is just a myth. If they do see magic they are made to believe it was apart of a dream. That is how you students are able to go to the mall wearing your school uniform. They do not see you as magical students just strange children wearing odd clothes. Or basically, they know you are wearing a uniform for something, for what, they do not know...Anyway, to this day, the Velvet Curtain is held by the Circle of Twelve and its families. You will learn what those families do for the magical community in Magical Law. The only way the Curtain will ever be nonexistent is by one of the families to deny their responsibilities and do not past them onto another family. A promise was made when the Curtain went up. All the families will protect it, if they cannot, they will pick another family, if they do not the Curtain will fall all because a promise was broken” Hieronymous explained while we students wrote what he said in our notebooks (which looked like old tomes) in the way we understood it. Once I finished my notes I raised my hand.

“Yes?” Hieronymous simply said looking at me with an expression that clearly said “of course, it’ll be you who has a question”  
“How does the Velvet Curtain protect the magical world. You said by mind magic but you didn’t say what type”  
“Mind magic does what it says on the tin, Mr Grabiner. It affects the mind if a non-magical see’s magic they will soon forget it. if they come across a magical village or town which is hidden behind the curtain they will turn around and forget they went that way, in the first place. Minds are easy to change, memories are easily erased. However, that does not mean a wizard or a witch of any type or species can simply go around erasing memories or control minds. The mind is a delicate thing and magic can destroy it easily. Damaging a brain with magic is as easy as a child crushing a flower. Only those who are skilled in magic can change a mind”  
“Like you sir? Don’t you erase expelled students minds?”  
“That I do” Hieronymous answered simply like if that isn’t a terrifying fact to learn from him!

Suddenly, the bell (the only technology in the entire school) in the corridor rang signaling the end of the lesson. However, everyone knew not to move until Hieronymous said so but he just waved a dismissive hand at the class.  
No one waited, everyone hurried to get out of the classroom. Everyone but me, I packed my things away to only tell Charlie I’ll meet him and the others at the field in front of the school.   
I wanted to talk to Hieronymous, I wanted to know if I could see him after school, I do after all have a gift for him! 

With that in mind, I wanted until the last student left the room to walk in front of his desk where he was already sat with a book opened in his hand. He was no doubt planning to spend his break reading.  
“Unless you want to cause more unpleasant rumours, I would suggest you leave the room” he muttered his eyes on his book. I could only give him a smile though, I knew this was his way of telling me not to spend all my break here because the other students will no doubt see it as another reason to belittle me. He was trying to protect me from harsh words.  
“I wondered if I could come to your rooms after classes”  
“You cannot, we agreed you could visit my rooms for personal reasons after this week is done”  
“Yeah but-” “no buts, that was the deal, surly whatever you wish to speak about can wait”   
“I’m already three days late though!” I huffed in annoyance and as expected that made him look up at me in confusion  
“Excuse me?”  
“It was” here I paused to double-check if the classroom door was closed, it was “it was your birthday on Saturday but my present wasn’t ready then but it's ready now! I only want to drop it off and then I’ll be gone, I promise”

“You brought me a present?” Hieronymous asked clearly in shocked   
“Why are you looking at me like I just did something shocking? Do you really think I wouldn’t ask Petunia when your birthday was? And yeah, while I did technically buy it, I gave it a personal touch by using my creative skills. So? Can I give it to you tonight? Or am I forced to be an awful friend, by giving your birthday present more than a week late?”  
“I...I can only spare twenty minutes”  
“Perfect! I’ll see you then, then!” I and with that I turned to the door   
“I will see you then, you didn’t need the extra then” Hieronymous said making me turn to him to smile playfully at him with my hand on the door handle   
“Eye” I pointed at my eye as I said that “not world weal”  
“GET OUT!” Hieronymous laughed beautifully pointing to the door I just opened “before you ruin my reputation”  
Laughing and snorting, I left the room to join my friends outside. 

\------------------------

I spent the short break chilling outside in the lovely wind with my friends, talking about our holidays and it was so good to see Keesha, I don’t think I’ve ever spent any time inside a lesson without her before, I kinda missed her. Our next lesson was Spell Practice which was held in the gym. Like always, I was beside India and Charlie watching the other students enter the room. Once all of the other students were inside of the room, Professor Dashwood followed with a flick of his stunning sun blonde hair.  
“Hello everyone” he smiled as he stood in front of the class which made many girls and a few boys push themselves in front of the group to get nearer to him. In the end, Charlie and I were pushed at the back, we didn’t mind though. What did shock us though, was the fact that India was close to Dashwood with other Butterfly girls. All of them whispering and laughing and totally fangirling over the new, hot and young professor. 

“As you all know I will be teaching Red Magic and Spell Practice for this year and up. Now as you can all guess, this is a class when you get the chance to practice the spells you know but not only that! No, you shall get used to your magical energy and its limits. Now, I don’t you all hurrying to work with your friends in this lesson so I have spoken with the headmistress. She has paired you all of with the people you are not on speaking terms with or simply haven’t met yet so...” Professors Dashwood trailed off there as he began to call out the names of students who were going to work together and soon he got to my name  
“Mr. Grabiner you will be working with Miss Cochran” he said and that made me sigh loudly, of course, Petunia would make me work with Minnie! However, I guess Petunia was doing this for a reason. She no doubt knew that Minnie and I were friends last year until she stabbed me in the back. At that moment, I decided to move on, move on and forgive. If I could do it with Hieronymous, I can do it with her.   
Before I walked to work with her though, I walked towards Dashwood who smiled a stunning smile at me  
“Don’t worry” he smiled at once when I was close enough “the headmistress has told me about your powerful magic and your lack of control. But don’t worry! Your protection band will stop any accidental magic, your workmate will be perfectly fine”   
“Oh, okay thanks” I smiled politely because his words were truly comforting to me, I mean, I may still be slightly angry at Minnie but I don’t want to burn her or something. I doubt she can cast the powerful shield spells Hieronymous can in time. Feeling more confident, I slowly walked towards Minnie, who actually looked way better than last year. She didn’t have bags under her eyes, her skin was now a healthy pink, her hair was cut, it wasn’t to her hips in perfect curls, instead, her hair was now just below her shoulders in soft little curls. But, she still looked rather skittish and kinda nervous. I guess she thought I was still angry at her. I smiled at her and said a similar thing I said to Hieronymous:

“Start again?”   
“W-w-what?!” Minnie said with a surprised squeak   
“Look, I won’t lie...I’m still angry at you, like really angry. But, I don’t want to lose you as a friend because you’re awesome, sweet and smart. So, let’s leave what happened last year in the past, okay?”  
“Okay” Minnie said with a bright smile her honey brown eyes now shining brightly with clear happiness “but don’t expect me to take it easy on you now we’re friends again!” she teased  
“Bring it on!” I laughed playfully.  
After that, Minnie and I took turns to cast spells at each other nothing too dangerous just silly ones like blind, sleep, leg lock, breeze, freeze, warm and all the others. We worked together like that for a while until we decided to have a quick breather where Minnie looked at my wand with a small smile.  
“Wasn’t there any better wands?” she asked with a laugh and yeah okay, maybe I can admit that my wand is now a little childish and I need a better one. But god damn it, the little Octopus at the end was too cute!  
“How dare you!” I gasped holding my wand to my chest like if she just offended me “Fred is awesome!”  
“Fred?”  
“Yeah, Fred the Octopus!” I laughed.

The lesson flew by and by the end of it, everyone was either sweating or exhausted or both! Seriously, casting spells is harder than it looks! But for me, the spells I cast seemed too easy, maybe its because I’ve been dueling with Hieronymous and I’m used to working much harder. Minnie and I bowed respectfully at each other before I hurried off to join India and Charlie for lunch. Avery and Keesha joined us and so did two of India’s other friends. Molly from Snake Hall, a tall and slim ginger-haired girl with green eyes which were behind a pair of large round glasses. Many freckles blessed her cheeks. The other girl was another Butterfly, her name was Jessica. She had bright blue hair and bright purple eyes. Just like India, she was very pretty but she had a very strong Australian accent. Sometimes I struggled to understand her because of it, but I’ve always been like that. However, during lunch, I felt like I was being watched. I looked up to the professor table where all the professors were eating. I saw that it wasn’t Hieronymous looking at me, he was reading a book with a cup of coffee next to him and a bowl of lamb stew going cold in front of him. Confused, I kept looking just to see that it was Dashwood who was looking at me. He was sat next to Petunia eating bangers and mash.  
God, I hate it when people stare at me!  
However, I smiled politely at him before looking back at my friends, I’m not too sure if I want to know what he’s thinking! 

For Lunch, I had Meat and Potato pie, chips, peas and gravy...The way the cafeteria worked was by having a menu on each table for each student who could sit there. All we had to do was read said menu of the day and pick a dish we want and then puff, there was your meal. Well, not straight away but you only have to wait five minutes! Five minutes! I seriously have no clue how the Beaters (They were the creatures who ran the kitchen, by the way, I learnt that from Charlie) did it all, well, actually I do...Because you know, magic...

After lunch, it was Black Magic and I was surprised again to learn that it wasn’t Petunia who was teaching us it. Instead, the new Professor was called Forest-Flayer. He was the first none human Professor I’ve seen in the school. Avery called him a Yeosin, he was a stag stood like a human dressed in a brown tunic and dark green trousers. Even though he had a stag head I could somehow tell he had an expression of someone who was used to being gapped at. I knew this look because I make it too.   
“Get in” he huffed out nodding his head towards the classroom which was above the Blue Magic classroom. I looked up to his small antlers that suited a young Bunk more than a fully grown stag. However, I knew from experience how rude gaping at someone was so I hurriedly pulled my friends into the classroom while I promised myself never to eat venison again.   
Black magic was boring and disappointing, not because Professor Forest-Flayer was a terrible teacher because he truly wasn’t. It was just one of those “see what you remember from last year” lessons and I honestly felt like slamming my head on my table.  
Here’s hoping that the next Black Magic lesson will be interesting!

However, things got interesting when Professor Forest-Flayer moved onto Otherworld Studies. He let the elves leave the room since they didn’t need the lesson before he floated a map in front of the huge blackboard with magic.

“The Six Realms” Forest-Flayer hissed out gesturing to the floating map with his wand as he used it as some sort of pointer. “This” here he paused to the biggest area of land that covered the left-hand side of the map, it’s colour was gold “Is the heart of the Otherworld, it is the Outabeoneian Kingdom. The most powerful Kingdom. Not only does it house The Mother Tree but it also houses The Elf god the Dragon. It also rules over the five other kingdoms making each of them keep to their own lands. The Outabeoneian Kingdom also has a strong connection with the Circle of Twelve making sure that the Mundane world stays ignorant. All Twelve members of the Circle of Twelve take orders from the King or Queen. Now this” here he paused to point at the land that spread across the bottom of the map. The colour of this land was a dark horrid purple. “This is the Exeoraniel Kingdom, unlike the other five kingdoms it has no King or Queen. It runs on different laws, laws that are not welcomed in the other kingdoms. Here rest the evil creatures children read about in their stories. Dark Vampire’s, Werewolves, Goblins, Death Hounds, Skeletons and so on. Many young children who travel to the Otherworld accidentally enter this land when trying to enter the lust environment of the Seventh Kingdom. The Seventh Kingdom is here” Forest-Flayer paused there to a very small land in the middle of the Map. “It is a human land, a land many think isn’t a part of the Six Realms. It is. It is the Exeoraniel Kingdom that is not a part of the Six Realms. It was, before they declared war on all the kingdoms seventeen years ago. You will come to learn of this war in your next History lesson. Anyway, Exeoraniel is the reason why entering the Otherworld is so dangerous. Like I have already said so many have mistakenly entered that land. If they do not get imprisoned by Dark Vampire’s, Devil’s or Werewolves to become slaves or worse breeders then they will be found by the Goblins. You will learn of Goblins in time but know this, they do not leave anything behind. Next, you’ve got Xugraiwen Kingdom the land of the dwarfs and trolls” Forest-Flayer pointed at a land that was on the right side of the map, going up until the middle. Its colour was a warm red. “It is a peaceful land. Dwarfs and Trolls have many beliefs, one of which is not to kill any humans because their gods forbid it. However, it is the land above it you should not enter. The Tidrouria Kingdom the land of the Giants, just like Goblins, Giants will eat you alive. Next, to it, you’ve got the Dririnad Kingdom ruled by vampires. Now you may be wondering...That’s five Kingdoms I have named within the Six Realms. That is because running throughout all of the Kingdoms is the Preadrovalon Kingdom the waters of the sea creatures. They live peacefully with each and every Kingdom. It is where you are which depends if they are friend or foe. Only Tidrouria and Exeoraniel are the Kingdoms you should fear. Each is ruled by hatred and blood. If entered, you will not come back alive...Is there any questions?” Forest-Flayer smiled cheerfully like if he didn’t just finish his lecture on a dark note.

“You didn’t tell us the name of the human kingdom, sir”  
“I did child, The Seventh Kingdom, humans have always struggled with creative names” Forest-Flayer answered with an annoyed click of his tongue.  
“Which Kingdom are you from?” another student asked  
“My species live in the Outabeoneian Kingdom and the Seventh Kingdom” Forest-Flayer answered just before the bell rang. “That is the end of lesson, curfew is at nine o’clock! You may go”  
No one waited to leave.  
“What a depressing lesson” India muttered walking beside me while I drew the Otherworld Kingdom’s map in my notebook on the page after my notes   
“I thought it was interesting. All those kingdoms in one place, all of them something I would hear in a fantasy. But didn’t you notice? He said something about Vampires and then Dark Vampires, I wondered what the difference is. Hey, India, when do we have magical creatures?”  
“On Thursday” she answered straight away knowing our schedule by heart already, somehow.   
“I wonder if I could ask the professor”  
“Maybe” India said with a shrug before she linked arms with Charlie and me “anyways, enough talk about classes! What do you guys want to do? We’ve got at least four hours till curfew”  
“Actually” I said removing my arm with hers which made her stop walking and look at me in confusion “I’m going to” I paused there to quickly look around, no one was there to overhear “going to see Grabiner”  
“Oh? I thought you said you weren’t going to join him for “afternoon tea” until next week and the extra lesson you told us about isn’t until tomorrow”  
“I know, I know, I erm...Seeing him about something else” I muttered before I blushed terribly.  
“Oooo” India smirked at once, totally getting the wrong impression “good luck” she said with a wink before dragging Charlie off to no doubt look for Keesha or her other two friends.

Shaking my head at them both, I went to my dorm room to get Hieronymous’s present before going to his rooms. Like always, I looked down to the golden lion knocker   
“Hey” I smiled happily at E  
“Master said you would come” E said before the doors opened. Straight away, I entered the room to find Hieronymous sat at his desk. He looked over his shoulder to me before he turned his chair so he was facing me.  
“I cannot spare much time” he said before he gestured at the bag I was carrying “but I can make time for this...For you” that end bit made me smile gently at him, he had no idea how those words warmed my heart. It makes me so happy to know that my friends want to spend time with me, no matter how new they are. However, when I walked to him to give him his present I suddenly got nervous. I sure hope he likes it. I’ve spent days working on it not having a clue if it was something he would like.  
“I hope you like it” I said in a soft voice before I watched him. He moved slowly and gracefully when he ripped the wrapping paper of my gift, tearing it in perfect strips. Once the paper fell to the floor Hieronymous’s eyes widened when he saw the stationary book-box. I decided not to use the front of the old book I got from the charity shop. Instead, I got some paper and drew a front over myself. It was dark brown and gold, the gold was drawn in a way that made the cover look Victorian. I kinda ended up drawing Hieronymous playing the flute in front of a rose bush. The title read “A book with a stupidly long title”

Moving even slower than before Hieronymous slowly opened the book, I held a snort in when I saw his surprised expression. He explored the stationary box-book for a good ten minutes, taking in every detail. All at once I felt nervous, I’ve never given a present to someone that had my art on it, drawing has always been something for fun, stress relief or for relaxation.   
“Erm” was the only words I could finally get past my mouth which made Hieronymous look at me “Do...Do you, erm...Like it?”  
“Like it?” Hieronymous said in a low whisper before he set the stationary box onto the little table. Then he did something totally shocking, pull me into a hug. I didn’t know what to do, I mean, Hieronymous Grabiner was hugging me.  
What does one do when Hieronymous Grabiner hug them?!  
Like an idiot, I patted him awkwardly on the back

“It’s an astounding gift, I can tell you spent a lot of time on this. I will treasure it, thank you” with that said Hieronymous pulling out of the awkward one-sided hug to no doubt to see my bright red face.   
“Now your shocked” he chuckled   
“I-I-I didn’t expect...It doesn’t matter” I said shaking my head before beaming up at him “I’m just really happy that you like my gift! I seriously had no idea what to get you”  
“May I ask when your birthday is? I would like to return the favour”  
“You don’t ha-” a raised eyebrow stopped my sentence there “eighteenth of April”  
“We were married then”  
“We were” I nodded in agreement “but that didn’t stop it from being a good birthday, I got spoilt by my friends and family. Mum and Eric mostly as they allowed me to get my first tattoo”  
“Of?”  
“A blue-eyed crow sat on the moon, it’s on the back of my shoulder” I explained with a smile before placing hands on my hips “can I have a birthday cup of tea with you or do you want me to go?”  
“A cup of tea sounds wonderful” Hieronymous said nodding his head towards the already waiting cups on the tea table in front of the fire “I had a feeling you were going to ask this when you walked in”   
Ah, he knows me too well. But that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the time with him because I did and I ended up falling asleep that night with a huge smile on my face.   
Bring on tomorrow!

....The next Day....

A quick glance to my school schedule told me that today wasn’t going to be as busy as yesterday. The only new lessons I had were Herbology and Magical law. I also had a free lesson at 3.20 for an hour but that spot was now taken up by the extra lesson with Hieronymous. I couldn’t decide to look forward to it or be nervous about it. I don’t want to end up hurting him or worse, accidentally burn down an entire forest. The fact that I could actually do that terrified me. I knew I had to learn to control my powerful magic. I don’t want to be like that young girl who killed herself and her family.   
Hopefully, Hieronymous can teach me how to control my magic. I couldn’t really allow myself to worry or stress about it though. If I did, I would make myself sick. I knew I should focus on what was happening in the moment and not what might happen in the future. 

With that in mind, I stood with India and Charlie outside the Blue Magic classroom waiting to be let inside the classroom by Hieronymous. No one was stupid enough to enter his classroom without his permission, not even Donald. Thinking about Donald made me look at India  
“Who are your roommates India? You haven’t told us yet” I said, last year India shared with two girls called Susan and Holly. 

“Oh, Minnie and Pastel”  
“What? No third roommate?” I asked in both confusion and shock   
“No, apparently the Water Elf Cordella was meant to be our roommate but she shares a room with the other elves”  
“Yes, we had an option of sharing with the other students. I was the only one who wanted to share” Avery said behind us “I chose to share a room with other students and still have the choice of returning to my kind if I wish...Sometimes it is good to be with one’s own, no matter how Kiba annoys me”   
“I am only doing what is required of me” Kiba said in his deep Latin accent hisses and now I think of it Avery also has a rich Latin accent.  
“Does your community speak Latin Avery?” I asked curiously  
“Ita!” Avery happily smiled   
“Humans struggled with Elfish so we learned Latin” Cordella said in her sweet and gentle voice that oddly made me feel relaxed and even more tired than I was. But I wanted to get to know the Elf but unlike Avery, Cordella was quiet and kept herself to herself. Plus, if I accidentally insult her I’ll piss Kiba off and I don’t want to do that. Goodness knows how strong the Dragon-kin is.

“How do you guys feel about joining a school outside your Kingdom?” India asked   
“It is interesting” Cordella answered “we are not used to being inside buildings, we Elves live inside or up trees you see...Well, not my kind of Elf, we live in the water”  
“Oh”  
“Why does Kiba protect you over the others?” I finally asked not being able to hold back my curiosity.  
“Ocean Elves can become other Elves over time if the others die out” Cordella explained “no other elf can do this...But we cannot change ourselves into Royal Elf”  
Suddenly the classroom door opened and everyone hurried to the seats they picked in Magical Law.  
“Let’s not waste time” Hieronymous said as he slowly walked in front of the classroom “This year will be even more challenging as last year. Here you will be learning illusions, conjunction and the skill to change or destroy a spell that is heading towards you...Now, you should have had Mental Magic yesterday, Blue and Red Magic are the main two colours that are used. With Blue Magic, you can teleport objects with your mind alone but only objects...Can anyone tell me why?”

Hieronymous glared when only five (including mine) hands went up  
“Only five of you can answer me? How disappointing. Very well, Mr Hill please enlighten your idiotic classmates”  
“It’s because objects have no soul sir”  
“That is a very basic reason but yes, that is one of the reasons. Can anyone tell me the other reason?”  
“It is because magical beings have more to teleport. Their organs, their bones and their clothes while objects are only one whole thing!”  
“Very good, Miss Cochran, can you also tell me why this reason doesn’t matter with a group teleport?”  
“It is because the beings in a group teleport are willing and the group combine magic”  
“Five Merits to you, I am glad one person actually listens to me!” Oh please, I could have told you that too! “These are the things you will have to know for this class. With that in mind, I will have to ask anyone under the rank of twenty to leave the room. I will not waste my time with those who are not skilled”

Wait, what? What does he mean by rank?   
“Oh for heaven’s sake” Hieronymous muttered in frustration before he muttered under his breath like a moody teenager. “Your ranks shall be in your journals, have a look and like I said, if you are under twenty you need to leave this room now”   
I knew I couldn’t be under the rank twenty in this lesson but I was still curious. So, I opened my journal and there it was, a list of last year lessons and numbers beside it:  
Merits-45  
Red-54  
Blue-55  
Green- 53  
White- 49  
Black- 52  
Okay, wow, I did fair better last year than I thought I did! All lessons on above 50??? Even White magic! I didn’t even do that class often. Huh, that month doing that lesson none stop did help after all! I can’t honestly believe it!   
“Sir, I have a rank under twenty” a girl said  
“Then leave”  
“But sir, that is n-” “you should have taken the headmistresses warning to heart Miss Jackson! Last year you were meant to learn your own style within the Penrachromatic System! If you decided that Blue Magic wasn’t one of your talents then that is not my problem! Now, don’t make me repeat myself!” Hieronymous shouted and bloody hell, I haven’t heard him yell like that for awhile. His shouting worked though as six students out of the whole twenty-six left the room, which wasn’t bad, to be honest. It seems between Butterfly and Wolf Hall only four students were expelled last year. Hieronymous however, didn’t look pleased that students were leaving his class  
“Don’t bother returning” he muttered angrily which made all the students happily hurry away. I can never understand how some students can be happy about not having to do a class.   
Once those five students were gone Hieronymous started the lesson. To my joy we learned a spell, it wasn’t fully Blue Magic though it had a bit of Black too as we learned how to turn our note books-which were, of course, blue-into a magazine. Why the hell we didn’t learn this spell last year to help us hide our notebooks at home during the holidays I have no idea! I had to hide my school books in my bed duvet cover, how the things aren’t bent is still a mystery. I learned the spell with ease and was soon doing without any effort, I nearly killed Donald when he changed my book into a model magazine though. 

Magical law was next with the new female elf Professor, Professor Virrel. For this lesson, I decided to sit between Minnie and India. I smiled my friendly smile at Minnie and she smiled back. But, her smile didn’t reach her eyes and it somehow seemed so fake. Before I could make sure she was okay, Professor Virrel walked into the classroom and started to speak.  
“To those you have a short memory span, my name is Professor Virrel” oh! Those sarcastic words reminded me of a certain husband of mine. “Today, we are going to learn all about marriage laws. Not because one of you is married but because this is important!” and with that, we all learned about marriageable laws.

It was at that moment, I realized I knew nothing about marriage! There are all sorts of Consummated bonds, some share a mental link which means lovers can read each other’s thoughts or tap into their knowledge, some bonds keep hearts together until one of the lovers dies, some bonds are even slave-like! Like the submissive of the two does whatever their dominate wants! But manly the bonds are about love. Like some bonds break as soon as the love does, some bonds make the two lovers’ want to be near each other and can’t be away from each other for a long time. Some bonds strengthen the need to be around each other and for physical touch. Some made sex a regular activity. Some Bonds connect lover souls together, so when the other lover dies so does the other. Some Bonds even talk about recantation! Like two souls can be joined and those two people will always be drawn together as lovers no matter the life. It was awfully romantic but it was also nice to think about. I mean, I would like nothing more than spending my entire life with someone I love for the rest of my life...

Herbology was the next lesson of the day after break. Not only was this lesson two hours long but the Horses would be joining us. This, of course, made me and my friends super happy! Being with just India and Charlie was like being sat in a car with three wheels. It just didn’t work! I sat next between Keesha and Charlie while India sat on the other side of Keesha. Soon enough, Minnie, Ellen and Donald joined us on our row of tables. Unlike us, Avery didn’t need to come to this class, I mean, that shouldn’t be a shock. E was a forest Elf after all.   
“In this lesson, you will learn magical spells that can heal, grow, destroy and create plant life. But Herbology also ties together with Potions as here you will learn about all the ingredients you will be using in that class. I must warn you again, that Green Magic is the magic of the body and Herbology is the magic of plants. With that in mind, why don’t we start with something simple today? Let’s see if you can all open a flower bud with your magical energy” Professor Jones smiled before she tort us that every spell.

White Magic was after lunch, apart from the extra lesson with Hieronymous, this was the lesson I was not looking forward to. It has never interested me and it was the class I struggled in the most. But today, it was one of those, let’s see what you remember from last year, lessons. I felt like slamming my head on the table and was told to come to the lesson more by Petunia yet again. I knew where she was coming from, I only knew a few spells in White Magic but I just couldn’t do it. Whenever I tried my spells would fizzle and break. I knew the words to the incantation and the wand moves and all that needed to be known about the spells but I just couldn’t perform them. Petunia says it is because I’m not trying hard enough. What she forgets that everyone has something they’re good and terrible at. White Magic was one of the things I was terrible at and because of that, I was so happy when the lesson ended.  
That was until I remembered what was next.  
It was my extra lesson with Hieronymous

Feeling terribly nervous, I slowly walked to the main gates of the school wearing a dark plum purple coat over my grey school tunic. I left my cloak and wrist band in my dorm room. Hieronymous said nothing to me when I met him at the gates. He simply lead me in the middle of the small forest behind the school. We stood in a clearing where he casted a spell that formed a blue see-through dorm over us.  
“This is the shield I promised you” he said gesturing to the blue dorm above us “I am more than certain that you will not be able to break this shield. Now, take off your shoes”  
“My shoes?” I asked in confusion looking down to my grey schools shoes with their orange bottom.   
“We are above a Lay-line, a Lay-line is an area where magic runs more freely. You have not learned how to feel that magic yet, so you need to take off your shoes and be barefooted to feel the magic”  
“Is a Lay-Line apart of The Mother Tree?” I asked as I slowly took off my left shoe  
“They are the names of her roots that run in this world”  
“Will I learn where Lay-Lines are?” I asked taking off my other shoe  
“If you survive this year of education, you shall” Hieronymous answered now slightly frowning at me, yeah, I gotta stop all these questions. He’s no doubt already frustrated thanks to a whole day of work. With that in mind, I removed my socks.

The grass was cold and a little wet under my feet and I hated how strains of grass were between my toes. If I hated anything on this earth, it was stuff between my toes!   
“Good, now just like you do with your magical core, relax and clear your mind. Feel the magic that runs underneath the ground. It is a skill all wizards have, it shall be easier for you here”  
I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to feel but I relaxed my body anyway and tried to “feel” magic.   
I felt nothing  
Hieronymous frowned at me, he no doubt knew I wasn’t able to do what he told me. But come on! I haven’t done anything like this before!   
“Let’s try casting some spells, shall we?” Hieronymous said before he removed his wand from his belt strap and I did the same.  
“Before you cast your spell you must push your magic through your wand, correct?”  
“Yes sir”  
“What do you feel when doing this? Can you feel your magic like hot breath on your skin?”  
“Yes sir”  
“Good” Hieronymous said with a nod “controlling your magic is the same. It is like if the air around you is heating while you feel its energy sparking inside of you like lighting. When you feel this, you must decide how much energy you’re going to put into the magic you wish to use. I believe when you do accidental magic it is your magic that decides this. We need to change this and the best way to do this is to wait until you perform accidental magic. When you do I want you to tell me what you felt. Do not leave out any details...Now, it seems your accidental magic sparks whenever you’re angry or need protection. With this in mind, we are going to duel. Just like before I’m going to attack you with spells and you will block or avoid them” Hieronymous said which made me swallow nervously.

It’s always so scary to duel with him, he’s so powerful and he moves as fast as a Cheetah with perfect skill. He never misses his target and right now that was me.  
“Before you duel, you do what?”  
“Bow in respect” I answered before bowing and Hieronymous did the same before he suddenly swished his wrist which caused a sharp pain in my back  
“Don’t wait to attack, once you bow, you attack! Wait for a second and you will die. You should put up a shield, do it again”  
So we bowed and I put up a shield which red sparks hit and fizzed on.  
“Counterattack! Attack me in a way that will provide you to cast a spell that will damage me. Do this while you hold your shield”  
“I...I can’t do that” I stuttered out  
“Yes you can, you have enough magic in your core to cast two spells...That is if you pick the correct ones”

I bit my lip, I have so many spells to choose from, how am I meant to know which one works well with a shield? Suddenly, a blue rune started to form beneath my feet. Straight away, I looked up at Hieronymous who was glaring daggers at me and I knew he was getting ready to teleport me and he wasn’t happy that I was letting him. I jumped to one side but the rune followed me because of course, it would. With a quick flick of my left wand wrist, I muttered the incantation for a Force Push spell. A spell I learned thanks to my extra studying. But, before I could mutter the last word I was teleported a meter away from where I was stood.   
“Your reactions are too slow!” Hieronymous shouted at me “I am not one of your class chums! I will not wait for you to cast a spell! Neither will a challenger! Move as slow as a turtle and you will die! You realized that I wish to teleport you? Cast a Force Push, a Slash, Flames, anything! Anything to stop my spell! Use that brain of yours! Try again!”   
Try again...He makes that sound so easy! I’ve never casted two spells together before!  
“Channel your magic, feel that hot breath, let it warm your body”  
Yet again he’s talking if that makes some sort of sense to me. 

I took a deep breath and stood firmly in place while I forced myself to pretend that Hieronymous was Minnie. This is just Red Magic again only twice as worst. With that in mind, I held my wand tightly in my hand and nodded at my challenger. If he wanted me to fight back, then I will. I’m going to give him my best.   
I put up a shield to watch a Spark spell fizzle against it before I quickly teleported myself to cast a Lighting spell. Hieronymous easily casted a shield but the point was that I reacted and casted a lot faster than before. But that didn’t mean things would get easier for me. A powerful shock spell was aimed at me and I blocked it with my shield just in time. But then I was flown off my feet to land awkwardly on my stomach which winded me horribly.  
“Your shield does not cover the ground! A shield must be like a glass dorm, nothing should enter it! Get up, try again!”

Awkwardly and a little bit saw, I slowly stood up and watched Hieronymous like a hawk. When he casted a Green magic spell that made grass stems slowly wrap around my ankles I easily burnt them away before I teleported myself again to cast a freeze spell at Hieronymous’s feet which successfully froze him in place. I didn’t wait a single second, I quickly casted Retrieve Wand and within another second Hieronymous’s wand flew into my hand.   
I shouldn’t have felt smug, I really shouldn’t but I couldn’t help it. I’ve never actually been able to take his wand before! I couldn’t believe it!  
However, I was suddenly teleported and the next thing I knew I had Hieronymous’s right arm wrapped tightly around my throat.  
“I’m a skilled wizard, do not fall into the illusion that I only know spells of wands” he hissed down my ear before he suddenly pushed me away ripping his wand out of my hand as he did so. Moving as quick as light he hit me with a painful Spark Spell that hit my back which caused me to yell in pain.   
That’s gonna bruise!

After that, we casted spell after spell and each time I would do something wrong. I wasn’t fast enough, I used the wrong spell, I wasn’t using all my magical energy into my spells, I wasn’t watching Hieronymous close enough and I wasn’t trying. But I was! It was so difficult to have a standoff with a skilled wizard. I’ve only duelled a couple of times! After a while, I grew exhausted and frustrated and soon enough I finally snapped:

“Quit it!” I snapped while slowly got back up my feet from another Blast spell that will no doubt leave a bruise on my hip.   
“Stop me! Use your magic to stop me!” Hieronymous shouted  
“I don’t know how!”  
“You feel the warmth of your magic inside of you, do you not? Let it travel freely. Let it travel down your arms to your hands and then imagine a wall. Use that wall like if you’re hitting me with it”  
“I’m trying!”  
“You’re not trying hard enough! Does this not matter to you?! Do you want to be removed from your family?!”  
“Of course not!” I shouted in anger  
“Then prove it to me! Control your magic!” Hieronymous shouted before he casted a Lighting Spell which made me throw up another shield but some of the Lighting hit me and burnt my arm. Another spell was casted and a hop to the side saved me. However, I could feel it. I could feel my magic crack within the air. It was like silent cracking of a fire that I could only hear before I felt the warmth inside of me turn as hot like fire.   
My magic runs on my emotions, Hieronymous said. Maybe I should use my emotions to control it.   
With that in mind, I snapped my head up to glare angrily at Hieronymous. I wanted him to stop, to give me a few minutes to rest. And if I had to fight for that then so be it! In my head, I imagined the magic that was floating around me as if it was some type of force, a force I could move. And when Hieronymous casted another spell I moved my hands in front of me and imaged an invisible wall in front of me.

Luckily for me, it worked as Hieronymous’s spell shattered with a loud crack when it hit my shield. I moved before he could after that. I quickly moved my magic from my hands to my left foot which I stamped onto the ground. Bright Red lines danced on the ground travelling to Hieronymous within seconds. When they reached him they created a bright red Rune beneath him before with a mighty bang, an invisible explosion threw Hieronymous into the air.  
I ran to him straight away when he hit the floor with a loud huff.   
“I’m sorry!” I cried at once when I was close enough to him but with a grunt, Hieronymous slowly sat up to look at me seriously   
“Why is it, that you only listen to my advice when I anger you?” he growled with a dagger worthy glare “you controlled your magic perfectly. You had a clear goal in mind. Do that more often and these lessons won’t have to be as regular as I thought...Do it again”  
“What?”  
“You used Mental Magic with a spell you learnt last year perfectly, I am asking you to do it again”  
“But I...I don’t want to hurt you”  
“Believe me when I say that you won’t catch me unaware again” Hieronymous muttered

Once we were both back on our feet, Hieronymous and I stood ten steps away from each other, bowed before we dueled. My shield was now up all the time as I split my magic in half. Half on my shield and half on spells. It was exhausting but all I did was reflect his spells, I didn’t want to throw him with my magic again or accidentally hurt him. However, soon enough I was stood on shaking legs and when a Blast was thrown my way it hit me. When I landed on my back Hieronymous ran to me and for once he seemed a little bit guilty.  
“Why didn’t you use Force Push to throw me again?”  
“Didn’t want to break any of your delicate old bones” I teased and I got a slight smile   
“Do not let this get to your head” Hieronymous said as he slowly and gently helped me back on my feet. “This lesson may have been a success but that does not mean the others will be. You’ve got some powerful magic....Keep that protection band of yours on at all times. If you do not I fear you will break more than windows” yeah, that was my fear too “Now, let’s get back to the school, its way past your bedtime”  
I snorted at his words knowing he was teasing me back.

Hieronymous didn’t only walk me back to school but he walked me back to my dorm room too. With a smile and a wave, I wished him goodnight before I collapsed into my bed. 

Today as been one hell of a day...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be confusing why I've made Luke so powerful but trust me, all will be explained...


	11. Planning ahead

Before I could leave my dorm room on Thursday morning, I noticed there was a note for me on the floor. Curious, I opened it just to sigh. It was from Hieronymous reminding me about my duties as Sophomore Treasurer or should I say mail boy...I’ve enjoyed the job, I really have, but I didn’t know if I could do it again for another year. I wanted something more. Something I could get creative with and make some sort of difference and being Treasure wasn’t going to do that. I was so bothered by this that my friends noticed and when it was time for break, India finally asked:  
“What’s the matter?”  
We were sat on a bench in the main courtyard together, she was sat to the right of me while Charlie was sat on the left and Keesha was sat on the ground. But, they all knew something was bothering me because of course, they did. It was probably written all over my face.

“I don’t want to be the Treasurer anymore...I want to do something better, something that will challenge me” I explained “I enjoyed the job, I really did but...I don’t know, I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t get really creative with the role. It was down to Minnie to do the main things while I just did the little jobs”  
“So why don’t you run for president?” Keesha suddenly said  
“What?!” I laughed with a snort   
“Think about it! If you get the job you could change the events! Keep them traditional but with your own little twists. You know...Add a bouquet of flowers to the valentine's day booths, things like that” Keesha said excitedly but oh my god, was that a fantastic idea!  
“Keesha you are a genius! I have to find Min-No, wait, I have to ask Grabiner if there can be two presidents! Minnie and I can totally spilt the work between us! Hey, India why don’t you run for Treasurer?”  
“I will now that you’re not running, I didn’t want to go against my best friend”  
“Awesome! I’ll talk to Grabiner after Magical Creatures! For now, though, let’s go~” 

Magical Creatures was tort by Professor Rickman. He was tall, well built, around twenty years older than Hieronymous with stunning white feather wings that were huge. The wings rustled behind his back while he watched us all file inside of his classroom with his bright orange eyes. When I sat down in my seat between Minnie and India, I noticed the three claw marks across both of Rickman’s cheeks.   
“My name is Professor Rickman and today we will be learning if Vampires and Werewolves are truth or fiction. Can anyone answer this?”

“It is true sir” India said beside me and I couldn't help it, I looked at her in shock. Okay, Vampires and Werewolves are real?! Why weren't we told this last year?! You would think this fact was important!

“That it is, that it is...Now, between these two species, there are the cursed and the birthed. Obviously, the birthed is as what they seem, they are born with the blood of their species. The cursed are the ones who are turned, by either by force or not. The differences between these two are of course different. For Vampires the birthed have golden eyes with small fangs which always stay in the mouth. While the cursed have blood-red eyes and faded lines on their skin, the lines are faded and skin coloured but they are clear to see with large pointed teeth that hang in clear view. For Werewolves, the birthed have dark moss green eyes and the cursed have yellow eyes. Also for Vampires, the cursed can drink any blood while the birthed only desire human blood. Both types of Vampires have the same weaknesses, stake in the heart, garlic, and sunlight”

After that, we learnt how Vampires and Werewolves attack their prey and yes, it was as scary as all those horror films you've watched. No joke! Vampires rely on eye contact mostly but they are truly skilled in all Mental Magic, they can control your mind, make you do and feel things. They can even stop your heart from working until you die by tapping into your brain if they are that powerful. Some, however, stay within the old ways, enjoying the “hunt”. If Vampires want to turn you they have to suck out all of your blood and once you're dead they use their magical powers to turn you. Werewolves, however, are just like in the films...Turn into the actual Werewolf when there is a full moon, they are not shape-shifters like on the movie Twilight, Professor Rickman's words not mine! And it only takes them to bite you, their teeth going into your skin to turn you into a werewolf. Killing them is also like in films; you just gotta find a silver bullet and hit the head to kill. Shoot anywhere else and well, you're dead. But with Werewolves they don't purposely turn people as Vampires do, they just want to kill. So, if you survive a Werewolf attack to be one then you're lucky, in a twisted way. After that wonderful lecture, Professor Rickman handed us old paper clippings for us to figure out if the Vampire or Werewolf was a birthed or a cursed. You think that would be easy right? But nope. Half of the newspapers didn't have photos and if they did they were black and white. Plus there were some people who were clearly lying! I kinda felt like a detective so it was a lot of fun! 

After the lesson I went straight to Hieronymous’s classroom and as expected he was cleaning his blackboard.  
“This must be important for you to interrupt my day, is something the matter?” he asked after a quick glance at me. He no doubt saw my green hair and orange cloak and just knew it was me. I am the only boy in Wolf Hall who has green hair after all.  
“I’ll just take a second of your time, sir”  
“I find that doubtful, it is you after all...So, tell me, what trouble have you caused?”  
“None, I just wondered if there could be two presidents” I said which made Hieronymous freeze in his actions before he turned to me with a confused face.  
“Why on earth do you wish to know that? Surely you do not wish to retire from your position. You did a rather good job last year”  
“I did one good job and that was the raffle I did at the Candle booth” I said with a snort before I gently shook my head “No, I want something more challenging, I’m bored of being the school's mail boy. But I know I can’t possibly be president by myself, I’m way too unorganized for that. So can there? Be two presidents, I mean”  
“They can be, yes. But it only means things will become a team effort. Perhaps you two will help each other to remember things?”   
“Hey! It was Minnie who forgot to remind me about things! She left it to the very last moment so I couldn’t do any of my ideas! But I got a journal now, you know, a thing that would have been useful last year?! Anyway, don’t get me ranting! Thank you for letting me know, I’m gonna look for Minnie now” and with that, I went to the library just to find no Minnie. I tried the cafeteria but nothing again. I tried her room without any success. Iris Academy wasn’t a big school, it's more medium-sized than anything. But that didn’t mean that it made finding people any easier. Not like it mattered, I had two classes with Minnie. I’ll just talk to her after them!

And that’s exactly what I did!  
After Magical History, I hurried to walk beside Minnie who looked at me in both confusion and curiosity  
“Have you thought about running for office again this year?” I asked which caused her to sigh loudly and start to play with one of her loose strands of hair. She looked exhausted which was understandable with this busy schedule.  
“I thought about it” she said in a gentle and soft voice “But, I don’t think it is for me, this year” suddenly she was smiling brightly at me, her brown eyes gleaming brightly “why don’t you run for president?! You’ll be great at it!”  
“Well erm...I was kinda going to ask if you would want to do it with me”  
“Can we do that?”  
“A little bird told me that we can”  
“Do you mean a little dragon?” Minnie teased nudging me gently in the side. Chuckling softly as she watched me blush furiously. “Let me think about it, okay? I’ll let you know tomorrow after classes”  
“Okay, great! See you later!” I smiled waving goodbye to her before I returned to my friends. 

\------------------

It was on Friday after break, that we all found out why we learnt that Vampires were real and the differences between born vampires and cursed ones. It was down in the basement in the cold and damp stone classroom that was lit by a few candles. It was awfully creepy to walk into the empty room, the only sounds being our footsteps and whispers. Once everyone was sat down we all waited in cold silence. Yet again, I was forced to sit in the front with India and Charlie, but Minnie and Donald joined us too, looking as nervous as us. Suddenly, I heard screams behind me and I quickly spun around to see that a bat was flying straight at me. I ducked out of the way quickly and felt the tips of its wings clip my hair. With a loud pop, black mist filled the space in front of my desk making me sit up again. As the mist disappeared a form appeared. Whoever they were they were dressed in all black, a hood covering their head. Slowly, they turned around to face us all before the hood went down. 

One bright red eye glowed in the darkness while two dagger worthy teeth appeared from grinning lips.   
This was why we learnt Vampires yesterday.  
It was because one of our professors was one.  
“Greetings Children” a soft and gentle males voice spoke making me feel calmer than I actually was. At once, I knew he was using his Vampire gifts. I knew he was a cursed Vampire by his one red eye and the cobweb scars on his skin. The left side of the professor's face was filled with scars and burns and his right eye was stitched closed. “I am Professor Duke, your potions professor. I have been within this school when the headmistress herself was a student. I am a Vampire because every good story needs one, don’t you think? Now, there will be no foolishness within this classroom, one wrong move may cost your life. And I don’t mean from me, oh no, as Rickman explained I drink animal blood. No, I mean by the potions you will be creating. One wrong ingredient and your caldron will explode. And believe me when I say some acids will burn your wonderful skin off your bones...With that said, shall we begin? I think we will start by creating a simple glue Potion. That will be easy for you lot to wrap your brains around...Hurry now, go get your caldrons, children”

No one waited to do what they were told. No one dared to piss off Professor Duke he is a Vampire after all. 

During our potion-making Professor Duke stood in front of each row of tables to watch until he finally stood in front of mine. His one red eye watched Minnie and me very closely.  
“I do believe you two are the best students within this class, let that be true in this lesson. If you do I may offer you an extra lesson” he said and even though I probably shouldn’t have, I hoped I could do that extra lesson. Minnie looked conflicted too.   
“You must be that rare jewel I heard so much about, boy. Not only are you the only boy in the school with your hair and eye colour. But, you are the only boy in your hall with your hair colour too. Convenient isn’t it? Some people may say that is the thing that makes you interesting, Jewel. However, I say it is the laziness of fate” Professor Duke said and when I looked up at him, he was smirking. I didn’t have a clue what he meant but he looked smug never the less. I never bothered to question it, not like I had a choice as Professor Duke walked away. 

It was at that moment, I decided I liked Professor Rickman but Professor Duke freaked me out...

After the wonderful lesson down in the basement which was tort by a Vampire, I joined Minnie in her dorm room after Red Magic. I was sat beside her on her bed looking at a small leather bound journal filled with ideas. Apparently, she did this last year just before she ran for president.   
“What are your ideas?” she asked  
“Well, I thought I could run as “the voice of Wildseeds” you know help coming to this school more easier for Wildseeds. Making leaflets with the basic information about all the customs and traditions at the school, the school rules. And maybe having a meeting every week so the freshmen could ask me some questions...For the candle booth selling more than candles if I can, you know make festive jewellery or having sweets again for the raffle. For Valentine’s Day, I was thinking not just selling cards but selling flowers, making hairpins for girls and sweets”  
“What about the Dark Dance?”  
“A sweet stall, maybe we could find out if it’ll be offensive to the ghosts if we sold Halloween sweets shaped like them”  
“It won’t be” Minnie answered straight away writing down my ideas   
“Can we see if we can make it a none-uniform event?”  
“We can, I don’t know if we could pull it off, though”  
“I don’t know...I am Petunia Potsdam’s favourite student” I smiled puffing my chest out in confidence.   
“I think Donald has claimed that title” Minnie said with a snort “What are you going to hold for your year?”  
“I wasn’t going to hold anything” when Minnie frowned I hurried to explain “I thought I’d hold something for the Freshmen Wildseeds, like a meeting where I could answer questions”  
“Hmm...That does sound like a good idea...You have to talk to Jacob”   
“Jacob? Jacob Blaising? Why on earth should I talk to him?” I asked in confusion  
“He might be running for secretary this year. If he is, you have to let him know what we’re planning”  
“But why me? Can’t you do it? I hardly know Jacob”  
“I...I rather not” Minnie muttered now looking terribly awkward.  
It was then I remembered why...

~~~~Flash Back~~~~

I was with Ellen Middleton walking to the doors that lead to the main courtyard, we just been doing extra studying and were now heading to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. True, we only had time for one sandwich because we both got carried away but at least we were eating something! Ellen was one of those rare people who were smaller than me and she was rather curvy. Curvy, not fat like she often calls herself. She had wheat coloured blonde shoulder-length hair that was in a messy style. It was like if she just left her hair to fall into place after she woke up in the morning. Her eyes were a lovely honey gold and she had a cute smile and a brilliant mind.   
“Doesn’t bother you? Not only do the professors do it but the books do to! They all expect us to accept the answer of “it’s one of those things” we shouldn’t question. Why shouldn’t we question it? Why can’t we explore?”  
Sometimes, she had too much of a brilliant mind though  
“I don’t know...But whatever the reason we can’t experiment now, I mean, surely mixing magic and technology is banned for a reason” I said running my fingertips through my fringe that covered my right blind eye.   
“But there isn’t an answer to why!” Ellen huffed in annoyance with an expression I didn’t like. It was a mix of confusion and determination. Before, I could express my worry about her exploring the answer about magic and technology, herself. I heard a familiar voice when we went outside to the main courtyard.

“Kyo, please!” Minnie’s voice cried loudly which made me freeze in place and look over to the direction it came from. There stood beside the gym’s building was Minnie beside Jacob and Kyo stood in front of them looking furious.  
“Why do you prefer that snob over me?! What has he got that I haven’t, huh?! Why did you turn me away just to accept him?!”  
“He’s just a friend, he listens to me” Minnie said an awkward smile on her face but even where I was stood I could tell she was stressed, exhausted and extremely uncomfortable. So she finally got rid of Kyo, huh? And let me guess, the jerk isn’t taking it very well  
“Maybe that’s a new concept for you...Listening to other people apart from your own annoying voice?”  
“Shut your face, four eyes!”  
“Oh, what an original come back” Jacob muttered with a roll of his eyes and a fake yawn, having no idea how much he is making things twice as worse.  
“Please, leave me alone, this is so embarrassing, everyone is looking” Minnie said and yeah, okay, I felt awful that I was a part of “everyone”.  
“You’re the one who’s making a fool out of me! I gave you everything and your throwing it back in my face! You're killing me! You’re actually killing me! Is that what you want?!”  
“Don’t be so dramatic!” Jacob finally snapped “leave her alone or else!” and with that, he wrapped one arm protectively over Minnie’s shoulders and pulled her away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was understandable why things were awkward between Minnie and Jacob after that.  
This means, I will have to find a Falcon on Monday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Professor Duke and Rickmen are my fav side professor's and because of that we will be seeing them again ;)  
Also, I like the idea of Ellen being curvy, she has a figure that matches mine in the first game, big brests and hips that get in the way XD


	12. Meeting a beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not only does Luke go on a spy mission to keep an eye on the twins but Conner enters the story to confuse everything by his beauty.   
The question is, what will Luke do?

“Good morning!” I happily called out once I noticed that Hieronymous was in the mailroom at five in the morning Saturday. However, by his twitch, I may have said that good morning a bit too loud. But, I was feeling so energetic today and it’s a good thing too! I’ve got the whole Sophomore year mail to deliver. And by the way Hieronymous was sorting out mail himself, I knew he had to deliver the Freshmen mail.   
“Would you like help with those?” I asked  
“You’ve got enough to do” Hieronymous said looking at my stack of mail for a brief second before focusing back on his pile.  
“We could split it into halls, I’ll do the girls and you do the boys? Wouldn’t that be easier for you? It beats travelling between the two buildings, right?” I said and I smiled when Hieronymous looked at me. It was his expression he always pulls when I had a point. The slightly annoyed look. He can never admit I’m right.  
“I’m guessing you wish to do the girls dorms to check on your sisters” he said already moving to pile up freshmen girls mail in front of me.  
“I haven’t seen them all week, I want to see how they’re doing. And it’s Initiation this week too, I want to make sure they know not to let the seniors take the piss and come to me if they have any troubles. I am their big brother, after all”  
“A big brother with no authority, bring any troubles to me and I will try to help”   
“Thank you” I smiled feeling genuinely happy “You’re better at scaring the other students anyway”  
“Compared to you, I am a dragon standing next to a pet rabbit” Hieronymous muttered which made me snort in amusement. 

The first Hall I went to was, of course, Snake Hall, Kara was awfully similar to me, stubborn and very independent. She would have managed well here on her own but she would have also looked after Emily. Unlike us, Emily was shy and quiet and a bit of a pushover at times. She was the one I was mostly worried about. Kara had a temper and horns of a bull while Emily was as soft and delicate like a flower. When I arrived at her door I knocked my special knock, three taps, one tap and then two taps with a foot kick. I smiled when I heard her groan before she opened the door.  
“Please don’t embarrass me like this” Kara muttered as she took the four envelops I held out in front of her. “I know what you’re going to say and don’t worry. I can look after myself. Whatever this Initiation is, I’m not going to let anyone walk over me, okay? This week has been amazing, I’ve learnt four spells and can cast them perfectly. I’m thinking of going to Red, Black and White classes and your husband is a moody git. And that’s the news of my first week, okay? Can you please go now?”  
“I’m sorry I’m your worried brother” I laughed “just come to me if you have any problems, okay? I can still scare people into leaving you alone”  
“So can I” Kara said before she stood up straight and puffed out her chest “have you seen my scary face?!” and with that, she glared at me but all I could do was laugh.   
“Just be careful, okay” I laughed before going to the next door  
“Yes mother!” Kara called out before shutting her door and I slid the four envelopes into the next room with a bright smile.

After delivering mail in Snake Hall and a few more in Butterfly Hall, I went to Emily’s room to do my special knock again. unlike Kara, Emily threw open her door to pull me into a tight hug.  
“This week has been amazing!” She squealed before letting me go “I like Blue, Black and Green Magic. I’ve made a bunch of friends and the school is amazing” ah, words of any newbie, just you wait until you’ve been here a month, Emily. That opinion will soon change “And don’t worry about Monday. Whatever is going to happen, I’m sure Kara and I will be fine! What about you? How’s your first week been?”  
“Awesome, busy and exhausting” I said with a smile “but good, I’ve been good, so don’t you worry about me. Now, talking about next week-” “-I know, Kara has already told me” Emily interrupted with an eye roll “if I get any trouble come to you. I know...I wish you two would stop treating me like the baby”  
“I...I didn’t think we did” I honestly said “I try to treat you both the same”  
“You’re more protective over me” Emily muttered before she gave me a shrug “never-mind, I don’t think it will change”  
“I can try” I gently said “come on, don’t shut me out. Tell me what I need to do. Do I need to take a step back? I know I can be overly protective and like a second mum”  
“Just...Don’t do this...If I need you, I’ll come find you...Okay?”  
“Okay” I said with a nod before I gave Emily my bright smile “I’ll stop embarrassing you now”  
“Yes, please do” Emily laughed before we waved goodbye at each other.

\------------------

On Monday, I was terribly worried about my sisters. I was lucky for my Initiation week, I had Steve Kenyon also known as Big Steve as my Senior. He only had me running around giving him coffee. However, it was rather terrifying to watch Damien Ramsey walk towards me with a wicked smirk on his face. Whatever the Demon wanted from me, it wasn’t anything good. I mean, Big Steve might have been a loose cannon but he was kind to me. He said that we green-haired boys had to stay together and that I reminded him of his sister. Now, I could only hope that my sisters had a Senior like Big Steve. One that won’t misuse their power and make my sisters embarrasses themselves. Oh, I knew that Kara could look after herself and she wasn’t as much as a pushover like her twin, but I still worried. They are sisters of the boy who married the scary and strict professor. No one really cared that the marriage was in name only. I was doomed to be known as Hieronymous’s husband no matter what I did. I just hope that my sisters won’t suffer because of that. 

I was so worried that I didn’t focus on my two lessons in the morning and when it was time for break I became a spy. I hid my necklace under my grey school robe and pulled my cloak hood over my head. Oh sure, if anyone looked close enough they would recognize my freckles and scar but I doubt anyone will. I was just a boy with blue eyes, with his hood up, wandering around the school. There was no need to look my way. Thanks to that I could do what I overprotective brother does best. Spy on his sisters. I frowned when I noticed Kara had a Falcon boy as her Senior. I don’t really know anyone out of my year but I had a bad feeling about him. And my bad feelings are hardly wrong. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with how Kara is flirting with him! I swear! Okay, maybe that fact matters a little...The last thing I knew was that Kara wasn’t interested in love, never mind boys!  
“So what am I meant to do to keep you happy?” she asked rolling her shoulders in a flirtatious way which made me gape like an idiot.   
“Not much” her Senior said with a shrug, he wasn’t what I called awfully handsome. He was actually plain-looking, brown hair and eyes with no freckles and a very pointed nose “maybe you could deliver notes to the girl I like?”  
“Notes? Where are we, nursery school?”   
“Only way to keep things private in this school, not like your family knows that” the boy muttered which made Kara glare angrily at him and she was not kidding when she said she had a scary face.   
“What my brother does has nothing to do with me and if you don’t want to piss me off, you better remember that” and with that Kara stormed off, her dark purple cloak wrapping around her when she did so.   
Well, that could have gone worse, but I will have to keep an eye on her. She is the one with the worst anger after all...

Suddenly, the bell went and I had to quickly spin around and hurry to my next class. However, on the way to Magical Traditions I ended up bumping into Hieronymous who lifted his eyebrow at me. All at once I remembered that I forgot that we were going to have breakfast together this morning.   
“I’m so sorry!” I said at once “I totally forgot! I’ve been worrying over my sisters and I forgot! I went to look for them first thing-not like I found them-I’m sorry, I won’t forget tomorrow I promise!”  
“I knew I should have given the note to Mr Harmly” Hieronymous muttered under his breath but it was loud enough for me to hear before his dark eyes met mine “Do not add extra worry upon yourself, I did not have time this morning to join you for breakfast. I did leave a note at your door but it is clear that you did not get it”  
“No sir, but I’m happy that I didn’t stupidly miss our breakfast together. I promise that I won’t forget tomorrow!” I said with a bright smile and shifting in place, my heart now feeling twice as light as before  
“Make sure your on time, I do not ask just anyone to join me for breakfast”  
“I know and it means a lot to me that I’m a part of the special few”  
“Of course it does” Hieronymous said with a roll of his eyes but I saw his slight blush, he was secretly flattered by my words “now, off to class with you, before your late”  
“Yes sir!” I said with a bounce before I bolted down the corridor  
“No running!”  
“Sorry!~” I called out in laughter 

........

I was able to just make it to Magical Traditions where I sat between Charlie and India. Professor Virrel was teaching this lesson and she started the lesson straight away.  
“Good morning children, today we are going to learn some Elf Traditions. As you some of you know there is an Elf within your year that prefers to be called E. This is because E has chosen to become a male when E is old enough. I thought I could teach you how a Female elf becomes a male. Well, there is no surgery involved. All elves have the gift to change their gender once in a lifetime. To do this, however, a female elf must have E’s winds taken off. Taking of Elf wings requires the magic of a Royal Elf. Once the wings are taken off they are not simply thrown away. No, they are buried underneath a dying tree so the magic within the wings can restore the life within the tree again. It is a wonderful sight, magic at its purest. For a male to become a female, however, things work differently. They are required to drink a potion that will make them grow wings. It is a painful ordeal. Elf Wings are made out of fine bone. The bone will come off the shoulder blades of any male. This is why so few males choose to change gender...Now, while the female buriers her wings there is a celebration. A celebration of new birth for the tree and a celebration of a new start for the female Elf. It is a wonderful celebration. We all gather around The Mother Tree and bless her magic. All come to it, even the Royal Elves...Now, with that over, I would like to talk about the tradition of marriage. You may not know but Elves mate for life. Once they create a bond it stays until one soul dies. Once mated the Elves will be loyal to each other and will never part. Before the bonding takes place, however, a wedding must be held and they must dance under the stars. We believe dancing strengthens a bond, plus dancing can create the perfect mood. Now, in our community all newlyweds are pure. Elves only love once after all and they will keep the honour of giving themselves only to the one they love. This desire will not simply go away. An elf is loyal remember, their chosen can only change when they are refused in courtship. For an Elf to court another they must give their chosen a white flower. If the flower is accepted then the other Elf will wear it. If not, the flower will be turned into grey and given back to its owner. Only then will an Elf choose a new lover. The courtship for Royal Elves work differently, however. An Elves who desire a Royal Elf must duel for E’s hand fairly. Whoever wins will get the hand of the Royal” Professor Virrel explained but at that moment I raised my hand  
“What if the loser is the Royal Elves chosen? Isn’t the Royal Elf loyal to them?”  
“No, they are not bonded. To a Royal Elf winning their hand is like accepting the courtship flower” Virrel explained and I lowered my hand feeling slightly confused. Surly an Elf’s heart can’t be won that easily right?

During lunch, I didn’t go on another spy lesson, well not at first, I pulled Minnie to ask her how I could talk to Jacob. Like I said to her, I honestly didn’t know him that well or at all really. She said I could talk to him during Spell Practice since we share those lessons with Falcon Hall. A fact I totally missed. Honestly, I wouldn’t notice a house being built until it’s finished. Once that was over with, I checked on Emily. She had a girl from Butterfly Hall as her Senior and from the look of things she was helping her study. At that moment I knew that I didn’t have to worry about her. Like me, she had a Senior who felt sorry for her and will look after her. Smiling, I slowly walked to the cafeteria for some lunch. I ended up having a sandwich and some small cut carrots, something healthy for a change. I mean, I can’t have burgers every day of the week can I? While I ate I enjoyed the brief time alone, oh sure, I loved my friends, I truly did. But sometimes it's great to have some me time. Even if it’s for a little while. However, I choked on one of my carrots when Emily suddenly stood onto a table to dance with other freshmen. She spun with grace, her bright lime green hair falling around her face perfectly. This was what I was afraid of, this is the embarrassment I didn’t want for her. I didn’t want her to become “that girl who danced on a table”. But what could I do? If I stormed over there and dragged her down, I’ll only embarrass her even more and I didn’t want that...Not at all...

I was looking forward to Mental Magic, I’ve already learnt two spells but I couldn't wait to learn more! I sat between Minnie and India, shifting in my seat in excitement.  
“Quiet all of you!” a stern Scottish man’s voice suddenly shouted making everyone jump. In front of the class was a professor who looked around thirty. He was dark-skinned with pink hair and beard, his eyes were pink as well. He was smaller than Hieronymous’s tall height, maybe only slightly taller than me? On his face, he had what looked like claw marks on the right side of his face. He also had these claw marks on his jaw and neck, he must have been in one hell of a fight in the past.   
“I’m Professor Turner and here you all will learn the art of Mental Magic. This isn’t just magic that can allow you to dwell into another’s mind. But it is also the art of doing magic at will, to learn how to do magic without words but with thoughts, this works by using the magic that flows in your blood. To channel your inner magical core, forcing magic through a wand is easy as you have something there to hold, to feel and to force energy into. This is very different. You are not pushing your magic into something else to release magic but pushing magic into the environment...Elves, you may leave if you think you have enough skill in Metal magic” Professor Turner paused while Cordella, Kiba and Avery left the room. “Anyways, as I was saying. Mental magic allows you to control others but this magic is rare and powerful within humans. Telekinesis is a huge part of this lesson, to move objects with your mind. Projection is the ability to transmit images and feelings to another mind. Please do not confuse the spells Empathy and Spirit echoes. Empathy allows you to reveal emotions and not transmit feelings. Spirit echoes reveal strong emotions of the past. Therionology is the magic that taps into the control of animal minds to command them to your will. However, this magic is rare and only those gifted with the art shall learn this topic. Harmonizing is the ability to arrange your surroundings to have a certain atmosphere to them. For example, you can make your target scared or calm. This type of Mind Magic also allows you to arrange your surroundings to your own mood. For example, when you are happy you may make a beautiful garden but anger can cause fires or storms. This type of magic isn’t rare but it isn’t easy to teach or learn. This is because you are not tapping into a mind but forcing the world itself to bend to your will. The rarest of magic in this class is Elenchus, Elenchus is where the magical being has the ability to distinguish lie from the truth. Elenchus can be done by using emotions, memories and controlling of minds. Throughout my years in many magical schools, I haven’t tort an Elenchus being. So all in all in this lesson you will be learning Telekinesis and Projection. However, if you have an interest in Therionology you must first learn your White Magic rank. I only accept those who have a rank of sixty-” That’s me out of the picture “-but even that doesn’t mean you can learn that type of Magic. If you do not have sixty in rank in White magic and are from a wizard family that is skilled in White Magic you may self-study until you achieve the sixty rank. I must also inform you that only students with a fifty rank shall learn Projection and Harmonizing. With Telekinesis, however, I will allow students with the rank of twenty to learn this art. So, check your diaries! Anyone with a rank below twenty in White Magic leave at once!” Professor stopped there to lean on his desk as he folded his legs at the ankle.

Already knowing what my “rank” was I carried on writing my notes, thankfully when the professors have lectures like this everything is magically written down on the large chalkboard in front of the room. The chalkboard covered the entire front wall so there wasn’t any worry about not getting everything down. However, if you don’t get the first bits down then you have to struggle with looking up to the roof to copy the notes down. As I wrote I was shocked that I heard four students leaving the room but yet again that could have been me if I didn’t do that month of White Magic along with a lesson every two weeks after my marriage. 

“What rank did you get?” Minnie whispered to me her voice full of curiosity  
“Fifty-nine, I’m kinda mad at that. I mean learning Therionology sounds so cool but I guess even if we did have that rank we may not even be able to learn it. I mean, the professor said it was rare and to be honest I don’t want to waste my time on rare magic just to not be able to learn it anyway. I would be so pissed if I worked so hard and not have anything to show for it”  
“That’s true” Minnie whispered back which made me turn to her   
“What rank did you get?”  
“Forty”  
“What?” I asked fully shocked, I mean, Minnie just seemed like a better student than me.  
“I got a rank sixty in Blue Magic and the other two were a rank fifty” okay, wow, she did well but she can’t do Projection and Harmonizing like I can. I am now seriously thankful to myself for suffering all those White Magic classes.  
“Time!” Professor Turner suddenly shouted making everyone go quiet “Now, as this lesson will be held three times a week and it will be difficult. It is an optional course so if you struggle drop out. Anyways, this lesson is at an end. I will see you next week if you decide to join me” 

\---------------

I was pinned against a wall by my throat, the grip was as strong as steel, crushing my airways so much I couldn’t breathe or speak. The only thing I could do was look up at the angry golden eyes. Eyes that I recognized, how could I not? These eyes have haunted me ever since the attack. There weren’t as bright as the sun anymore. They were dark like rusted pirate gold. They were filled with anger, confusion, and hatred. I couldn’t move, if I did one easy twist of Dad’s wrist, he’ll break my neck. I couldn’t understand why he was so strong. Oh sure, I was ten but surly no adult man was this strong!   
I don’t know where the meat knife came from but with one skilled aim, Dad slashed my right eye. The knife would have gone in my eye socket if I didn’t move but the damage was already done. Blood splattered on the carpet and I could taste blood in my mouth. With the strength that felt like a thousand men, Dad threw me onto the floor where mum covered me with her body before he could start to kick me. 

With a loud gasp, I bolted upwards just to slam my head on the bottom of Avery’s bed and fall back onto my back. I laid there breathless as my body shook. It isn’t often I have nightmares about the attack but when I do, I’m left terrified. I slowly made sure my scar wasn’t bleeding and of course, it wasn’t. Every time I have those nightmares they feel so real, I could feel my fear and betrayal. I’ve always known the attack wasn’t dads fault. He couldn’t remember who I was. To him, I was a stranger in his house. A threat. But it still hurts to know if he was just a centimeter to the left he would have stabbed me in the eye. Not only that but if he aimed for a different place, he could have easily killed me. That was not the man I loved. He wasn’t my best friend who I explored the forest behind the farm with. He wasn’t the father who used to comfort me during a thunderstorm. He was nothing because he couldn’t remember who he was. 

With a deep breath, I slowly and carefully got out of bed and got dressed in my school uniform before I grabbed my dragon school bag and left the room. It was far too early to go for breakfast. With nothing better to do, I decided to go to the gym. I knew that I couldn't go running, Devil's Tooth hill was banned during the week. However, that didn’t mean that I couldn't do anything else to take my mind off my nightmare. The basketball part of the gym was thankfully empty and so were the other three areas. There was an area for football and soccer, an area for climbing (with climbing frames on the walls and monkey bars) and an area with punching bags and weights. I usually avoid the gym. I only enjoyed running. There was no way my skinny arms could lift any of the weights or hold me on the monkey bars for more than ten seconds. I had no upper strength at all. Plus, as a gay boy, I would totally admire some Flacon Hall boys while they were working out. And I know by painful experience some boys do not react kindly if they spot another boy checking them out. Plus, I was married..

With a sigh, I kicked the basketball into the left corner. It went right but I was just happy it actually went into a corner. And not into a wall where it bounced back and hit me in the head. That has happened to many times already. Once the ball was safe, I slipped off my shoes and put them to the side. Slowly, I walked to the middle of the room and took a deep breath. 

Closing my eyes, I started to slowly dance, singing the song "Shine" of a Barbie film in my head. And soon enough, I was dancing away. When I was little before dad got sick, I used to do ballet with my sisters. I was the only boy there but I loved every second of it. The girls there would treat me as if I was one of them. Like if I was a girl to. That fact didn't bother me and sometimes I do wonder why. I knew that I was overly feminine for a boy. I mean, I wear girl clothes, wear makeup, spend way too much time on my hair, and I'm small and slim. I don't think it is a bad thing. This is who I am. But sometimes, I do wonder to myself if I would like it better if I changed my name to Lucy, be in Horse Hall and be referred to as a miss. I haven't stopped and thought about it though. Maybe that's a sign that I don't want to do it. I was perfectly happy with who I was, I wouldn't change anything about me. Well, okay, maybe my hair colour so I wouldn't be a rare beauty. 

Spinning one last time, I finished my dance routine with a graceful bow. The dance was an elegant dance, one that a beautiful woman would do for the play Swan Lake.   
Suddenly, the sound of clapping made my eyes snap open. Blushing furiously I turned to see the most beautiful boy. They had the Dark blue cloak of Falcon Hall behind their back and it was no wonder.   
The boy was absolutely stunning. 

He had a slender face, big brown eyes, gorgeous thin lips that sparkled because of the glitter lipstick. Perfect shaped freckles blessed his rosy pink cheeks. His hair was combed and curled in a 50 hair bun with a red headband. I couldn't stop my eyes running over his body. Like me, the boy was slender with perfect curves. I've never meant another feminine boy before and it's just my luck that he is gorgeous. 

"Sorry" the boy said with an awkward laugh brushing his right hand over his perfect hair. "I saw you dancing and forgot that staring is rude" and with that, the boy came closer to me and held out his hand.  
"My name is Connor," he said with a brilliant and stunning smile.  
"L-Luke" I shuttered out feeling my blush get worse as I shook the boy's hand.  
"I recognize you" oh great, here it comes. He’s gonna say: "You’re the one who is married to Grabiner".   
"Your the boy who did the candle booth last year right? It was your idea to do that awesome raffle, wasn't it?" Connor said with a bright amazing smile, his brown eyes gleaming brightly. I swear I have a thing for brown eyes. However, his words made me blink at him for a whole second. That was the first time someone has known me because of one of my successes. It felt great to be known for something else for a change. To be known as more than "that boy who stupidly married a professor".

"That was me" I smiled with my own laugh   
"I know because I won a lovely bath bomb, you see. It did wonders for my skin-" yeah that made me blush twice as bad "-anyway, dancing! I run a dance club, you have to join. You dance perfectly"  
"I don't know about that" I laughed out in embarrassment.   
"Oh hush, it's true. I've forgotten when club signing is but please do join...Oh! You might be interested in my brother's club too! He has a club for feminine boys. You know, where you can talk about cute dresses, makeup, bitch about other men and talk about the wonderful thing that is sex"  
"Err..."  
"You won't be stuck in your marriage for forever, sweetie. And if you are...Well, we can give you plenty of tips~" Connor stopped there to flirtatiously roll his shoulders with a wink. I don't know how it was possible but I blushed even more. "Anyway, I'll stop blabbing. Sign up for our clubs, okay? I'll see you around" and with that Connor walked away with a little wave.

As he walked, he had a bounce to his step. A bounce that shook his arse-I mean, I wasn't looking! I swear! However, I knew I did. I knew that I thought Connor was gorgeous and deep down, I wanted to get to know him. But I can't can I? I'm married and I love Hieronymous...  
Right?   
"Oh Luke, wake up and smell the bread" I muttered to myself. 

Even if I still loved Hieronymous, it was clear that he wasn't interested. He hasn't shown any signs of being attractive to me. And haven't we agreed on being friends? I can't possibly keep hoping. He isn't magically going to wake up on morning and decide he's in love with me. He might not even be gay. Plus, I'm his student. A student who is nineteen years younger than him.   
Maybe it's time for me to move on? I can't chase a heart that isn't mine. It hurt, of course, it did. Hieronymous is the first man I liked and the first man to respect me and see past my beauty. He only sees my personality. Plus, he is the first man who hasn't wanted to use me for sex.   
I can learn to love him as a friend.  
Smiling a soft smile to myself, I put my shoes back on and slowly walked to the cafeteria. The dance and the thought about the possibility of romance, made me feel a lot better.   
I was ready for the day.

Hieronymous was already waiting for me outside the cafeteria, his dark eyes watching the other students closely.   
"Hey" I smiled up to him  
"Good morning" Hieronymous muttered looking down at me to only raise his right eyebrow at me. "Are you alright? Your face is all red, you’re not getting the flu are you?"  
Yeah, that didn't help my blush at all. This is so awkward! I can't possibly tell him what happened! No, wait. I can, I can tell him half the truth.   
"I'm fine" I said with an embarrassed laugh which made him raise his eyebrow higher. He didn't believe me "just embarrass. Someone was watching me dance in the gym" there, I wasn't lying to him. I was just telling half the truth.   
"That still counts as lying, Luke" a bitter voice in my head said and I knew it was right. 

"I was not aware that you danced"  
"You didn't ask" I said with a shrug "anyway, let's get something to eat" and with that, I entered the cafeteria with a skip in my step. Hieronymous followed me to a table and we sat down opposite each other to look at the breakfast menu.   
Now, what did I fancy today? I'm always so tempted to go for the English breakfast but knowing me, I'd spill beans all over myself. No, I think I'll have the pancakes and honey today. It wouldn't be as amazing as the ones Eric makes but it'll be something. 

Suddenly, I heard my sisters voices.   
"Leave me alone!" Emily shouted   
"I can't when you're being a freaking idiot!" Kara shouted back  
That made Hieronymous and I look over to them. They were stood in front of each other, both of them looked furious.   
"Says the one who kisses strange boys! Are you that desperate for attention?"  
"Don't be just a fucking bitch!"Kara screamed and at once Hieronymous stood up.   
Oh great...  
Here we go, they’re going to flip out when Hieronymous gets involved. They're going to forget that he is a professor and in school. Which means they're going to land themselves into big trouble. Because when the twins fight, they are like two cats. They make a lot of noise and make everything twice as worse for themselves. 

"Oh, here we go! The swearing, that's definitely going to be in your favor!"  
"I'm just saying that you shouldn't go around the school doing pranks. That boy is trouble"  
"That boy is one of Luke's friends!"  
"Silence!" Hieronymous snapped making the twins jump and look at him in shock.   
"That's enough! You forget your place! You are at school, not at your home!" Hieronymous shouted loudly. "Detention for the both of you and ten demerits!"  
"That's not fair!" The twins shouted at the same time.  
"If she didn't have just a sad life, she wouldn't have to be so interested in mine!"  
"Oh yeah, because you’re so fucking special!"  
"Stop it" I cried to myself. They were digging themselves a bigger grave. Oh, how I wanted to go over there and give them one of my mum rants. But I couldn't. I didn't have any right to get involved. Hieronymous is the professor not me. All I could do was sink in my seat.  
"You've always been jealous of me!"  
"Of you?! Are you kidding me?! Why would I be jealous of a girl who skips around like an idiot and who believes true love and fairies are real?!"  
I looked at Hieronymous, he was pinching the end of his nose in frustration. I knew he was losing grip of his sort temper.   
"They are real!"  
"Oh please, if True Love was real dad would still be with mum"  
"That's not fair and you know it!"  
"That's enough!" Hieronymous finally roared making everyone go silent and slouch. "Detention for two weeks and another ten demerits! This childish argument stops now!" The twins finally sulked back in shame "go your separate ways at once before I give you both a warning!"

The twins didn't argue, they both hurried away. I lowered into my chair, even more, when Hieronymous jointed me back at the table. When he sat he leaned his head against his right hand. At once I knew he had a headache now.   
"They are definitely your sisters" he muttered "they get awfully passionate about their opinions...The only difference is that you do not shout so loud"  
That made me snort  
"You wouldn't have believed me before if I said that I was the mouse out of the Little teenagers"  
"Now I do" he muttered rubbing his forehead with his fingers "are they always like that?"  
"When they disagree on something yes"  
"Even with you?"  
"Oh no...I've got a secret weapon" at that moment Hieronymous looked at me in curiosity. "I've got my mum mode"  
"Your what?" He asked  
"When mum was too busy with work, I used to look after them. Over time, I learnt how to deal with them and that was by acting like mum. You know, give them a disappointed look and lectures. Works every time"

"I'll try and remember that" Hieronymous muttered and I gave him my friendly smile.   
That was until I saw Conner in the corner of my eye. At once I turned my head towards him. He noticed and gave me a brilliant smile and a friendly wave. All at once I was as red as a tomato.   
"I see" Hieronymous said which made me remember he was there and I looked at him with wide eyes. His dark eyes glared into my own. "Mr Anderson has court your attention" yeah that made me blush worse "may I remind you to not forget your promise of loyalty to me"  
"I know" I muttered pushing my half-eaten breakfast away from me before standing up "I'm many things but a cheat isn't one of them. The promises don't say that I can't be friends with him. That I can't get to know him. That I can't fall for him because like you said. We're only friends" and with that, I walked away. 

I didn't know if Hieronymous understood what I wasn't saying. That, what I said was a hint, a hint of if he didn't want me falling for Conner, then he better do something about it and soon. I wasn't going to wait anymore. I wanted someone to love, someone to be in a relationship with.   
Maybe it was cruel of me to not say it in a way he didn't understand. But I wasn't going to explain everything in detail for him. Why should I? It's time that he sees what is in clearly in front of him. That I loved him more than a friend. I was an opportunity for him to have love in his life and if he wanted it he needed to make the first move. Because there is no way in hell I’m doing it! 

However, I didn’t know how long I was going to give him to make a move, but I guess it is until I get to know Connor. Throughout Green Magic, Conner was the only thing I could think about. Questions filled my head. Like how was I even going to get to know him? A quick glance at my journal before lesson showed that club signups aren’t until next week! Oh sure, I could wait until then but...I didn’t really want to. I didn’t want to get to know him through a club because that would take ages! Maybe I didn’t have to wait...Maybe he’s in our year! I could meet him in Spell Practice today! I could speak to Jacob then practice with Connor! Then maybe I could start talking to him, learn what he likes and stuff. But I need to be careful. I can’t accidentally flirt with him and remember that I’m a married man until January the twenty-sixth. If I didn’t I would die. Plus, I need to make sure that Connor knows that I want more than his beauty. I’ve lost count how many times I got frustrated with men who only wanted me because of my beauty. But how could I be a beauty with boys like him? If I was beautiful then Connor was freaking stunning! 

But at least now I’ve got a plan...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I put in a detroit become human reference in here XD


	13. The Necklace Of Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems that Luke's necklace not only protects his magical core but it also hides a Truth. A Truth that he has worn all this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very short chapter this time but this is how far I have written!
> 
> PLEASE! Let me know if you enjoyed this story! I will not write this if no ones reading it! if this gets postive reviews I will begin writting again :)  
And With Planet Zoo coming on November, I may forget about this dead fandom and leave this story behind if I feel it is a waste of time.....

Once I entered the gym for Spell Practice I looked at all the Falcon boys until I could find one I wanted to talk to. Jacob was who I spotted first, thanks to his height and yet black hair. With a soft smile, I walked towards him. Jacob was a blue-eyed version of Harry Potter just with black slim glasses and not big horrid round glasses. And without the lightning bolt scar of course.  
“Have you come to duel with me?” he asked once I was close enough “It will be good to duel someone who will actually give me a challenge”  
“Err...I was actually planning to work with Connor Anderson” I said rather awkwardly but I felt even more awkward when Jacob raised his eyebrow at me.  
“That’s going to be difficult since he’s a Junior” he said flatly like if he expected me to know that already  
“Oh....”  
“Well...I guess I’ll work with you then” I said with a friendly smile but that didn’t make Jacob lower his eyebrow. It was probably so obvious to him that I had a crush on Connor because of my blush.   
“If you want to do something with Connor, your best option would be joining his dance class” Jacob said as he took three steps away from me, ready to start dueling.  
“You know him?”  
“Him and Oliver are my cousins” Jacob said with a shrug “though if I was you, I’d be careful with Oliver. He is a real flirt and he loves pretty boys like you but Connor...Well, if you are truly interested in him, he’ll close his door, if you know what I mean” but at my confused face Jacob said awkwardly “stop having sex with other boys”  
“Oh...”  
“Now, enough of that!” Jacob said with a cough before he pointed his wand at me “let’s duel”

Dueling with Jacob was nothing compared to Hieronymous but the boy still had skill and grace. He was doing so well that I forgot who I was dueling and started to cast the mental spells I used with Hieronymous. But Jacob also knew simple Mental spells. When I took his wand, he would get it back, if I put up a shield, he would easily break it with a powerful lightning spell. He was great to practice with and so I decided to keep Jacob as my partner in Spell Practice class. 

\-----------

Luck was on my side for once as I didn't have to wait until next week to see Connor again. It was during lunch on Wednesday. He was sat under a tree on the field reading what looked like a Junior Potions textbook. I smile straight away before I walked to him.  
"Can I join you?" I asked making Connor look up at me. When our eyes met he smiled so beautifully at me.  
"Oh hey sweetie, of course, you can" he smiled before he stuffed to the right, making room for me so I could sit in the shade of the tree. I didn't wait to sit beside him or pull out a random notebook that I could pretend to read.

"You sure that this is okay?" Connor asked which made me frown in confusion. "I mean, it won't make your husband jealous will it? Or are you doing this to make him jealous so he can remind you who you belong to?" after his sentence, Connor winked at me.   
"No...Our marriage isn't the real thing"  
"It's not?" Connor asked in surprise making me sigh.  
I had a feeling that he wouldn't be the first to be surprised by that fact. "I haven't done anything with him. Nothing" I muttered and even I couldn't mistake the anger in my voice. I didn't know why I was angry. I've accepted the fact that Hieronymous and I are friends.

"We're just friends"  
"Are you sure?" Connor said which made me glare angrily at him.  
"Yes, I'm sure"   
"I'm not doubting you" Connor said as he raised his hands in defense. "But I..." here he paused to lower his hands again. "I thought you were with him"  
"You and the whole damn school" I muttered angrily.   
"You can't blame us. How you two look at each other...Well, it's something special"  
"Not everyone thinks that"  
"I wouldn't worry about those people. You're not the first to ride the professor train. If you know what I mean"

My blush told him that I understood perfectly.   
"I think you should ask one of the new Elves the reason why your wolf is pushing its nose on the flat surface of your half moon" with that, Connor stood up and walked away.

That left me to sit there in confusion before I looked down to my necklace. Petunia said that my Wolf and Hieronymous's Dragon would be nose to nose if the necklaces joined. She said it meant that we have a strong bond. A bond that was made out of friendship or love. We both knew my truth, no matter how I tried to deny it now. But could it be possible to know Hieronymous's truth by just looking at my necklace? Curious, I went where Sad Simon was. I sometimes see Avery there on E's knees with close eyes. I had no idea if E was meditating or communicating with the tree.

Yet again, it seemed luck was on my side because Avery was indeed there. However, E was just finishing off whatever E did in front of that tree.  
"Avery!" I called making the Elf turn to me with a soft smile.  
"Greetings, Luke. How can I help you on this wonderful day?"  
"I wondered if I could ask you a question"  
"Why of course" E said with a bright smile  
"Can you tell me what my necklace means?" I asked holding said necklace in front of E.

Avery nodded before E gently held my half-moon necklace.   
"The Wolf. In my community, the Wolf is believed to be a sign of loyalty, bravery, understanding and loving. What you wear is known as two things. Protection or a connection necklace. Both of which protects the souls who wear the two half-moons. Both are created by a strong bond. However, humans only use these necklaces for protection when a young soul has a powerful magical core. Because of this, they forget that these necklaces can be either protection or a connection necklace"  
"What's the difference?"  
"A protection necklace has the spirit animals head to head. While a connection necklace has the animals nose to nose"  
"And that means?"  
"It's the difference between love and friendship. Animals that are head to head protect each other out of friendship. Animals that are nose to nose protect each other out of love...Your necklace has made itself a connection necklace because the two souls that it protects share love."

"W-what type of love?" I asked breathlessly. However, Avery looked at me in confusion   
"Isn't there only one type of love?"  
"You can love a friend" I answered thinking about Charlie while I did so.  
"Then your wolf should have E's head pressed against the flat side of your moon necklace...It is love that creates the bond of your necklace...What is the other animal?"  
"A Dragon" I answered and what followed was Avery staring at me.  
"I know...Professor Potsdam has already told me that you Elves believe that the Wolf and the Dragon can share the most beautiful of love"  
"They also mate for life"  
"What?!" I squeaked loudly   
"Seek out your Dragon wolf, he needs your bravery and understanding to move forward towards a great future" Avery smiled like if he expected that sentence to make sense to me. It really didn't.   
"Why me?" I didn't want to ask that but the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.   
"The Dragon protects E's mate even when E believes that E is the danger"  
"Are you saying that Hieronymous hasn't told me his feelings because he thinks he is protecting me? Protecting me from what?"  
"That I do not know" Avery said before E walked away. 

I was both confused and angry. Other students knew that Hieronymous loved me before I did. I decided ever since I met Connor, Hieronymous would have to do something to show me that he loved me. What I didn't know was that something was around my neck the whole time. I knew that he knew that. That's why he stormed off when the Wolf appeared on my necklace. It was because of what it means. That he loved me and that I loved him.  
But why was that so wrong? Why was he letting me get attracted to another man when he loves me? Surely he wouldn't possibly want me to be with someone else...Right? Unless...Unless this has something to do with his past. The past I refused to listen to when Petunia was going to tell me. Maybe I should have let her tell me. Maybe all of this would be easier if I knew his past...  
But what right did I have to dig into his past like if it's some type of hidden treasure? It should be him who tells me about this past and no one else.

But that only leaves me one problem now...  
How on earth was I going to get Hieronymous Grabiner to admit his feelings to me?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to all the artist's who allowed me to use their art!


End file.
